Falling in the Past
by Wordsworth99
Summary: What happens when the final battle is lost and Harry dies. Can his twin, Artemis, go back in time to save the world from Voldemort? And what happens when she goes too far back in time to the Marauder's era! Drama, action, angst! Gatta LOVE it!
1. Introduction

Author's Note and Extended Summary:

Hello Everyone! Thank you for reading my very first fanfic and before I start, I want to mention some of the alternate universe changes and background of the story in a bit more detail. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, PLEASE leave comments! I do love reviews =). Of course, feel free to leave constructive criticism as well! ALSO… I would like to take this opportunity to have one big disclaimer in the beginning so I don't have to keep repeating myself before every chapter… I love JK Rowling and she is my inspiration for all of this. I do NOT own Harry Potter, I just like to play around with what's already been done. Well, without much ado…

_Timeframe:_ Post- Hogwarts

_Alternate Universe and Some Details:_ Harry Potter, the boy who lived has a sister named Artemis Potter. They are fraternal twins, Harry being only slightly younger than Artemis. Lily died for her children's sake and so both children received the blood bond. However, because the Dark Lord turned his wand on Harry first, he was the first to survive the killing curse and became the "Boy who Lived." Because only Harry was attacked by You-Know-Who, he is the parselmouth, the one with the connection to the Dark Lord, and the one whom the Prophecy speaks of. They both grew up with the Dursley's after their parent's death, were fed the same lies about how Lily and James had died, and were both subjected to the same cruelty that Harry was by his cousin, aunt, and uncle in the original universe. They grew up protecting each other, becoming best friends along with Ron and Hermione. In this universe, the war is NOT over. Things started to fall apart when Dumbledore died. In the final battle, Harry and Artemis escape Voldemort very narrowly and are taken into hiding. Because of his, the Weasley's, Hermione, and everyone they care for die at the hands of the Death Eaters. Hunted, the twins keep a low profile and are on the run. Deciding they've had enough, they start developing a potion that can take them back in time to before Dumbledore was killed to warn him about his death. However, before they can add the final ingredient, the exact amount of sand from a timeturner, there is an attack on their safe house. A fierce battle with the Death Eaters ensues. The Dark Lord aims his wand at Artemis, but Harry jumps in front of her and takes the killing curse. A very shocked, wounded, and distraught Artemis, who just watched her other half die saving her, becomes exposed to the potion, sending her back in time… 20 years to the Marauder's era! Stay tuned to find out what happens next!


	2. This is how it goes

_The situation was turning desperate. Artemis looked around frantically and instantly wished she hadn't. She couldn't figure out how they'd ever escape this one. Voldemort was just too powerful, prophecy or no prophecy. Never in Hogwarts history had the grounds become so blood stained as they did that night. Never had the Good side lost so many to the war. Children, teenagers, adults, and some of the most powerful wizards and witches lay motionless. Dumbledore was gone and this is what happened to Hogwarts. The Death Eaters had invaded and Harry wasn't nearly powerful enough to take them on yet. _

_ Artemis forced herself to look away from the Weasley's bodies bloodied and disfigured on the ground by a bludgeoning hex. Ron was covering Hermione, trying to protect the love of his life even til his last breath. The battle field looked terrible with jinxes and hexes flying in every which direction, only sometimes hitting their intended target._

_ "Looks like the prophecy is about to be fulfilled Potter!" Screeched Voldemort in a high-pitched voice. His laughter echoed throughout the Forbidden Forest as he threw out a barrage of powerful curses. _

_ "Harry! Look out!" Cried Artemis. She grabbed his shoulder and moved him out of the way as he stood motionless, taking in the death around him. The sudden movement seemed to jolt her brother out of his stupor and he fired off some of his own hexes. _

_ "Expelliarmus!" He cried. Reacting quickly, he dove out of sight as Voldemort threw another hex his way._

_ "Bloody witch!" Screamed a masked Death Eater from behind them. "Stay out of the Dark Lord's affairs! You are not involved in this duel!" He rushed towards her casting a non-verbal spell that had her flying into a tree, gasping for air as she had the wind knocked out of her. _

_ "Urgh… damn you! Don't tell me what to do!" She rasped louder than she expected to, coughing wildly, her voice nearly lost because of the blow of the attack. "IMPEDIMETA!" She yelled. The spell found its target sending the sorry Death Eater into a tight paralysis. "Harry!" She called before running to his side._

_ "Crucio" said Voldemort, almost too calmly. Harry and Artemis were both brought to their knees as the pain began to spread burning away at their flesh like fire. They screamed into the air unable to contain the agony of the Unforgivable. Holding hands to give each other comfort, they both drew their wands once more as the spell wore off. _

_ "Harry CATCH!" Yelled a tall wizard just as Voldemort raised his wand for another attack. Instinctively, Harry caught the object, and before he had any time to register what it was, he and Artemis were sent flying forward as if something had gripped them from the navel pushing them through a tight space. And then everything went black._

Artemis woke with a start as she remembered the sequence of events during what many hoped would be the final battle with Voldemort. The faces of her loved ones, motionless and cold, had played in her mind repetitively haunting her every nightmare ever since that night. Beside her, her twin, Harry slept rather peacefully. Unbeknownst to her, he barely ever slept these days, plagued by nightmares and the burning scar. But today he seemed rather exhausted and activity on the Voldemort front seemed to be low, as his expression remained monotonous.

With a soft sigh Artemis got out of bed, pulled a robe over her dark blue tank top and black shorts. She leaned against the window and bit her bottom lip to keep the tears from overflowing. _That's enough Art, be thankful you still have Harry, _she thought to herself. She felt terrible for her little brother. For someone so young, so much was expected. They had officially lost the war and were on the run. She stared outside the window, memories of what had been replaying in her mind.

Stirring, Harry opened his eyes, only to see his sister lost in thought. He knew very well what plagued her, for it was the same thing that plagued him too. He'd been frightened when he hadn't seen her beside him afraid that something had happened. "Art… why are you awake?" He asked, already knowing her answer.

"Couldn't sleep," she said turning around, her raven waist length hair cascading her slim shoulders gracefully. She'd also inherited the famous Potter hair – messy. But the extra length gave it weight and it looked tousled and volumized, framing her face and her slim features elegantly. In the moonlight, little flecks of red sparkled between the strands, an inheritance she'd received from Lily, along with her beautiful emerald eyes, outlined in black. She got up and walked back to their bed and sat down beside him.

"I had that dream again. I know you had it too. You know the one, the Battle for Hogwarts. I still can't believe that we went from having so many people around us, to being here, running away. I hate myself for it. Artemis, we need to go back and fight him. We have to try. If Shacklebolt hadn't thrown me that baseball that night at Hogwarts-"

"We'd both be dead, just like everyone else." Snapped Artemis, cutting Harry off. "I don't care what that stupid prophecy says, you're the only one I have left. So there is no way in hell I'm about to lose you too. We've been trying to save the world every since we got to Hogwarts and now there's nothing left for us to save anymore, so the best thing we can do is to keep ourselves alive, bid our time, and find a way to fix this mess."

"I know that! I just feel so cowardly! I can't help it," Harry argued back. "It's already been a year and the longer we take to complete the potion, the harder it's going to be to go back and change the future." He looked around observing their room for the first time since they got there. They were in a cheap motel room, unable to access their Gringotts account because Voldemort had now gained full and complete power over the wizarding world. Unable to use their magic, they had been on the move from one place to another using muggle means of transportation and muggle money they earned doing odd jobs. "I'm sorry, with Voldemort now having complete and total control over the ministry, the Light side completely scattered, and most of the Order, I really shouldn't be whining like a child. I just want to finish this damned potion so we can do what we'd planned."

Artemis pulled open their small trunk and found a series of thick scrolls, scribbled with diagrams and calculations. "Well, since neither one of us can sleep, why don't we finish brewing the potion? I started it last night, all that's left is the timeturner sand. I went over your calculations this morning, and they seem fine to me."

"Are you serious? This is it then?" Asked Harry, now excited after such a long time. "We'll have to make sure we know what we're doing though."

"I know. This has to be a surgical strike. All we need to do is go back in time, far enough to save Dumbledore before Snape was forced to kill him. Once he's safe, the future will rewrite itself from there. We'll brew the return potion and come back to, hopefully, a better future. We won't have to talk to anyone, see anyone, or mingle at all. All we need to do, is keep Dumbledore from dying." Artemis said, quickly going over their plans.

"Alright then, lets get started." With a nod, Harry stepped into the shower and started to get dressed, while Artemis continued with the potion.

Once he was out, Artemis got dressed as well and joined him. Silently, they worked quickly and diligently with purpose. Not bothering to pause for breakfast, they continued to brew slowly adding in ingredients, adjusting the fire, and changing positions every once in a while. How much easier this would have been if Snape were still alive, Artemis thought. Though she hated to admit it, despite being a greasy git, he'd been one of the most intelligent people she'd ever have the honor of knowing. Even though they had always been at odds with each other, especially because of his hate for anything Potter, she found her heart bleeding with pain when he'd died. _Pay attention, Art!_ She berated herself. _He isn't here anymore,_ she thought sadly.

The broke for lunch, looking out at the rainy sky. It seemed the weather understood the dark days and reflected it indiscriminately. The gloomy day only got darker, as a thunderclap was heard in the distance. "I think we should get going Harry." Artemis said, suddenly feeling anxious.

"But we're almost done with the potion, we could be traveling to the past by nightfall if we just finish it now," said Harry.

Against her better judgment, she conceded and they resumed work on the potion they spent nearly a year and a half developing. Finally, after a few hours of work, they were ready to add the final ingredient. Artemis tucked in the scrolls into her robes just in case and slowly, began to unscrew the top of the delicate hourglass she'd received from Hermione before she died. Harry appeared beside her and watched her work, delicately lifting the top. They needed to make sure she put exactly the right amount in so that they wouldn't go too far back or not far enough. The sands would allow them to travel, but the potion was meant to amplify the power of the sand so they would be able to travel back months, and even years. The room was dead silent except for the rhythmic drumming of the rain outside on the window and the periodic howling of the wind. She started to pour in the sand, stirring ever so slightly. The grains seemed to absorb the liquid potion and soon almost the entire potion had been absorbed into the sand, leaving about a cup full of product.

"Good," said Harry. "Now carefully lid it."

The words had barely escaped his lip when the door crashed open. Startled, Artemis dropped the rest of the sand in from the timeturner and scowled at the now ruined potion.

As she turned, she threw a jinx over her shoulder and backed up towards the couldron with Harry. "Not good. We're cornered, Harry," she whispered, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "Got any bright ideas in there?"

"Yes, actually. Stay alive. EXPERLLIARMUS!"

"I said BRIGHT ideas!" She snapped waspishly. "I'm ganna keep them busy, bag the sands. If Voldemort gets a hold of it, God knows what'll happen." She quickly threw a barrage of curses towards the Death Eaters when she leapt out of the way to avoid a hot stream of red light that exploded the wall leaving a gapping hole to the outside.

"_Sectumsempra!" _Hissed one of the Death Eaters. Though she managed to avoid most of it, the curse was too damned on course to be avoided completely. She felt her skin slice near her abdomen shoulder and forehead. Bleeding profusely, she summoned all the energy could and threw a few stunners at the assailants.

"Almost done Artemis!" Yelled Harry still trying to save the potion and fend off against the numerous Death Eaters. The last thing anyone of the expected was for the Dark Lord to make an appearance. From the gapping hole in wall, floated in Voldemort himself looking like he was royalty. Eyes wide, now, feeling the urgency of their escape, Artemis ran towards her brother and hurled jinxes at the Dark Lord who batted them away, more annoyed than intimidated.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE!" Screamed Artemis! "HARRY HURRY UP!"

"I suppose I'll deal with the pesky sidekick first shall I?" He said, in almost a bored tone. "Don't you get tired of _trying_ to act the hero? You'll never be worth my notice, it's your brother I'm interested in. So stop being an eyesore and get out of my sight." No sooner had he said all this than Artemis's world started to move in slow motion. She saw him raise his wand, the killing curse on his lips. She realized everything was happening too quickly and she wouldn't have a chance to escape. _This is it. Please God! Let Harry make it out alive, _she thought before squeezing her eyes shut. The hated words left his mouth "Avada Kedavra" and she was forced backwards. The weight of something warm was engulfing her. She opened her eyes, and there Harry was. Sprawled across her body his body losing warmth and rapidly becoming cold. She herself had backed onto the coldron her dark hair, and bloodstained clothes sprinkled with the powerfully magical sand.

The crackling laughter filled her ears as she sat stunned with Harry's body across her lap. "No… Harry… no!" she pleaded with him. "Please…no!" she felt tears fall down her cheeks mixing with the caked blood. "Just once… open your eyes. Please…" she said through tears of sorrow. She looked up, eyes filled with hate for the monster that had taken everything away from her, including the only family she had left.

"Well, well Ms. Potter! Looks like the prophecy is now fulfilled. I supposed I should tie up the loose ends."

"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed. Rage slowly replacing the pain and sorrow. The adrenaline kicked in and she barely felt her broken wrist and ribs screaming for her attention. "THIS ISN'T OVER! I'LL MAKE YOU WISH FOR DEATH!" She had no way of knowing how, but she was so angry that throwing threats around, even if empty made her feel better.

His high-pitched laugh echoed through the room as he lifted his wand "That's enough. I have officially won this war." He stepped up to her and cupped her face in his slim fingers. "Imagine how the wizarding world would react if I made a slave of you, perhaps do you the honor of making you my mistress. You look healthy for the role. The famous Potter's sister, serving the Dark Lord. I think it would make a nice headline.

Don't you?" He sneered. Slowly, he licked the blood on her cheek causing her to flinch.

Disgusted, she did what came to her mind right away. Looking him straight in the eye, she spat on his face. She barely had time to register the dangerous flash of red in his cat like eye before her head exploded into blinding pain flying into the wall, her body following shortly after. She staggered and rose, holding her check where Voldemort had backhanded her. "You're old enough to be my grandfather. It's disgusting you would even suggest that. I would rather die than serve you!"

"I suppose I can grant you your wish," he snarled before pointing his wand at her and sent a green light towards her. Artemis was determined not to close her eyes but the wave of sudden nausea hit her like a ton of bricks. _So this is what dying feels like_, she thought. Finally, her head stopped spinning and Artemis felt herself falling about a foot before she crumpled to the ground.

Her heart hammered so loud she could swear everyone within a 50 mile radius would hear it. Calming her heart, she forced herself to open her eyes. _I'm not dead_, she thought rather bleakly taking in the forest around her. She slumped against a large tree trying to figure out where the hell Voldemort had sent her now. Calming down made her feel emotionally better, but on the downside, the exhaustion of the night set in and her screaming muscles had all her attention now. Wincing she looked at her broken wrist and evaluated the pain in her chest. _Great, I survive Voldemort, but I'm going to die because of my injuries._ She thought morbidly. She needed to move and get help. Even if it was just muggle help. _Dammit! Harry! You idiot! _She thought as her mind caught up with the rest of her body. She rested her head a little, knowing full well that sleeping would only put her into a coma now. The silence of the night did not make her job any easier, as she opened her eyes once again. It seemed that she was far from safe as the silence of the forest was interrupted by a deafening howl erupting into the dark night and the full moon illuminating the half man half wolf that caused it – only 20 feet away.


	3. Bast from the Past

The scent of blood flooded his nostril and filled the werewolf with unimaginable ecstasy. Unable to contain himself he howled into the night ready to ravish this blood stained meal. It was like a birthday come early and he was going to take advantage of this God send meal. He readied himself to pounce onto the unfortunate victim who now aware of his presence lost the little color in her flushed cheeks. Of course Remus Lupin had no control over this urge and was unable to make sense of the monstrosity he had become. As he pounced, he felt a sharp force tumbling onto him and making him fall to the right. A large black dog and an even larger stag had entered the scene determined to keep him away from him meal.

James Potter and Sirius Black knew there was trouble as soon as Remus bagan to howl. They saw the look of the werewolf change from that of the playfulness they had experienced to the crazed hunger that now besot his vision. Sirius's own canine senses could smell the iron in the blood wafting through the air and he silently cursed as he knew that he and James would have their work cut out for them. In the moonlight the three animagi (Peter was scurrying around unsure of what to do), spied a young woman, her dark hair dishelved and furiously whipping around her face. She's been badly wounded and her wrist poking out at an odd angle. They saw her wince as she attempted to stand and figured that she probably had broken more than just her wrist. Exchanging looks with James, they decided this was no time to be curious and their main goal should be to keep the werewolf from adding to her injuries. As he was about to jump, they managed to intercept their friend and pinned him to the ground. Thankfully, the woman had enough energy to get up and stumble away.

The werewolf viciously attacked back and sent Sirius sprawling straight towards James antlers. Reeling with having been hit so hard, the dog scrambled to his feet as the stag already pounced after the beast. _Shit! This is really going to kill Remus if something happens to the girl, _though James desperately. Up ahead he could see her running, but with all her injuries she was slow on her feet and frequently stumbled. As well, he'd never seen her around so she must also not know the forest, is what James thought.

Remus let out another howl and slashed at his prey who ducked at the last moment avoiding a close collision. She rolled to the side and as Remus was about to change course and topple over her, she hit him squarely in the chest with a powerful stunner. James knew it was powerful when it flew by him the area around him heating up. Sirius had now caught up with the others and growled at Remus blocking his path to the girl. Not waiting for the wolf to recover, the woman tried to hoist herself up. But clearly, whatever ordeal she had gone through had robbed her of her energy and she tumbled back to the ground.

_This is our fault!_ Thought James and Sirius, almost in synch with one another. _If we hadn't been so damned confident about keeping him in control, she'd never be in danger. They were almost going to risk their friend becoming a murder!_ The two boys were less than please with themselves but had little time to beat themselves up about it. Worst come to worst, they transform back into human again to distract Remus.

James was now on top of Remus as he struggled to move from the stunner the woman had thrown. _Must be powerful, _he thought. Not many witches or wizards could stun a fullgrown werewolf the way she had, especially in her condition. James took one look at Sirius and as if reading his mind, the other boy knew exactly what to do.

He ran back to the woman, and nudged her softly with his nose. She seemed light enough to carry he just had to get her on his back first. As if in understanding, she nodded slightly, and draped herself over his large form. If the situation had not been so serious, Sirius might have noticed his hormones and boyish instincts react to her body gripping his tightly. He ran with impressive speed for one with a woman on his back towards the edges of the forest. He heard the howling and subsequent thumps that sounded after. The woman had nearly passed out, grunting every now and then probably from the pain that Sirius's less than careful treading was inflicting on her open wounds.

"No!" He heard her gasp when they got within view of Hogwarts. "I can't go there!" He heard her say, almost panicking. She let go of him and tumbled to the ground. With a frightened look, she turned over and clawed her way up hill away from the castle. Sirius followed suit nudging her gently to trust him again. He could hear Remus howling in the distance and knew if he didn't get her to the castle, they'd be in danger again.

Picking herself up again, Artemis wiped the blood drizzling from her lip and exhaled deeply. In less than 8 hours, she'd lost her other half, been transported to God knows where, and been attacked by a werewolf. Riding on the back of the giant dog who happened to be staring at her intently had nearly knocked her unconscious, the broken ribs rattling around, threatening to break free from the rib cage. "What're you lookin' at" She snapped noticing the black eyes examine her. "Hah! As if you could actually understand what I'm saying," she thought bitterly. _Hang on…_ she thought, understanding finally dawning on her. _Werewolf, stag, and a black dog…_ She looked to the castle and saw light in the windows, the proud Hogwarts flags still standing intact instead of Voldemort's crest.

Her eyes went round with the realization of where she must be and who the dog in front of her was. _The sands worked. That's why I'm not dead! I got whisked away before the spell hit me! It's the only logical explanation._

"Alright, I'll trust you," she said softly, and resumed her position on his back, this time holding on with a little more grace.

Sirius was still surprised about her attitude but wasn't about to blow this animagus cover especially if she was willing to cooperate. Carrying the tired woman to the castle he dropped her in front of the headmaster's door and barked at the door hoping to get some attention.

"Thanks…" sighed the woman as she petted his head. "Like you can even understand what I'm saying…" she said as an afterthought. _If only you knew my dear, _thought Sirius. He bolted to the edge of the forest and pretended to be gone, ready to step in if things got messy.

"Lemon drops…Canary cream… Fizzing Whizbees… come on! Open up! Ummmm…. Let's see… licorice wands…" The gargoyles jumped to the side revealing a spiraling staircase that lead to the Headmaster's office. Anticipation flooded her body as she flew up the stairs only feet away from the wizard she respected most in the entire world. Knocking on the door, she opened the door without waiting for a reply.

Dumbledore stood up from his desk, a curious look on his face. After a year and a half of not seeing him, Artemis couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She lunged forward, grabbed him around the waist and sobbed into his long beard. If she'd bothered to stop sobbing to look up at Dumbledore's face, it would have been very comical, however the young witch didn't care anymore. The physical exhaustion was setting in, losing Harry, escaping a werewolf, meeting Sirius and her father, and seeing Dumbledore alive and old and wise, exactly the way she'd remembered him had put her through the emotional wringer. For what seemed to be at least an hour (to Dumbledore at least, who awkwardly held her), Artemis cried until finally, she exhausted herself unconscious. Dumbledore feeling the woman slump into him, conjured a stretcher and gentle levitated her onto it. Flooing Madame Pomfrey, he guided her through the floo (it was an awkward fit) and into the hospital wing.

"Unbelieveable! Never in my days have I seen such injury on a young Hogwarts student. She is a student right, Professor? Seriously, what has she been playing at, this one?" Fussed the younger looking mediwitch while examining her carefully.

"I believe she's been through a great deal. Please heal her immediately. I'll be in my office wanting to have a word with her. If you could just notify me when she's awake? I trust her to your good care Poppy. I'm sure I have nothing to worry about?" He ask peering over his glasses, a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes of course Professor."

With that, the mediwitch got to work. Artemis's wrist bones had shattered so much that she would need to vanish them. She'd have the girl drink some skelegrow when she was awake, which will also take care of the broken ribs. Quickly healing the bruises and closing the wounds on her stomach, shoulder, and forehead, she used a spell to magic the woman into hospital gowns. Her own knee length black robes smelled of dirt and blood. _Remind me to burn those later, _she thought as the removed the contents of the pockets and threw the clothes into a bin near the door.

Finally, after a few hours, Artemis stirred and slowly opened her eyes. "Hospital wing…" she said looking around. "My hand!" She gasped looking at her flobbery fingers. "Well at least it doesn't hurt any more…" she said with a slight grimace as she tried to get up.

"You will lie back down little Ms. and do as your told! I have never seen such awful injuries happen on these grounds! I don't know what dangerous things you've been up to, but you will stay put until I cure you, understand me?"

Looking around, Artemis say a very irritated Madame Pomfrey. "Yes Ma'am," she said slowly.

"Good. I vanished your broken wrist and now I'm going to ask you to drink some skelegrow. It's not pleasant, but you'll thank me for this later."

"Please, I have to see Professor Dumbledore," Artemis said as she took a sip form the bottle.

"Yes, I've notified him. He'll be down shortly to speak with you. And your clothes have been thrown out. They were beyond repair. Your belongings are on the side table." She said observing answering the look on the woman's face.

Relaxing a little, she thanked the mediwitch and waited patiently for Albus Dumbledore to walk into the room.

"Well I'm glad to see you're healing nicely…" said a voice beside her. Looking up she smiled at the old face whom she'd traveled back in time to see in the first place.

"I'm so sorry about before…" she started. "I just… I don't even know where to start." She looked down. It had just occurred to her that she's traveled back in time, but she'd traveled too far back. All that planning went right out the window, and she needed to quickly decide how much information to give him.

"Well, you can start by telling me your name. I daresay I should know who my avid secret admirer is?" Joked Dumbledore.

She decided it was probably best to stick to the truth in this case. "My name's Artemis, sir. Artemis Potter. It took me a long time to get here, but I was so relieved to see you that I could help myself."

"Well… perhaps you can tell me where exactly you came from and what happened to put you in this state."

She pointed her wand around the room muttering a silencing spell and setting up wards to keep anyone from eavesdropping. "I know it's going to sound absurd but the truth is… I come from the future. I'm not sure how far back I've come, but I'm guessing 20 years or so. I know this all sounds crazy but you have to believe me!"

Dumbledore, now wearing a stern expression on his face, studied her. He couldn't sense that she was lying, but traveling 20 years was not possible. It was simply too far back! "I hope you understand the implications of what you are saying Ms. Potter."

"Please call me Artemis," she said quickly. "Believe me I understand. I know full well that whatever I say now can directly impact the future, especially because I've traveled back much further in time than I originally intended to."

"Please tell me how you ended up in the past Artemis. I'm going to need to find a way to send you back. Since you understand the seriousness of this, I cannot allow you to say anymore. I don't even want to know why you wanted to travel back in time in the first place. You should know that no matter what happens the future must not be altered."

"Please Professor," started Artemis, now desperate for Dumbledore to listen. She wasn't going to be sent back so easily without her case being heard, especially not when she'd sacrificed so much to be here. "Professor, please! You need to hear me out. It took a lot for me to get here and I know how dangerous it is to time travel, but you have to know that I wouldn't have done it unless I absolutely had to! I can't tell you everything, but-"

"Absolutely not Ms. Potter!" Dumbledore said rather firmly. "Tempted as I am, I cannot risk changing the lives of others."

"I don't want to change the lives of others!" Exclaimed Artemis. "I just need to change one thing so that the future can fix itself! Please, I'm begging you! I have nothing left to lose anymore! No one does! The future has to be changed, it can't get any worse, believe me!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible-"

"I came back to save you. So that you can survive and keep everyone together!" There she had said it. She couldn't afford for Dumbledore to reject this. He _had_ to live in order for things to work out. If he didn't Harry's death would have been in vain and she'd go back to a dark future where muggles were nearly eradicated, half-bloods tortured and killed. Tears threatened to fall as she desperately tried to make the headmaster listen to her.

He paused at the piece of information she had divulged. Sighing, he decided he's hear her out. "Very well, since you've made it clear the future could use some changing."

Perking up, she continued with her story. "Thank you!" She exclaimed gratefully. "As I said, I'm from about 20 something years in the future. I can't tell you everything, but the one thing I can tell you is that the future I live in, is one not worth living in at all. In my future, you don't exist anymore. In my future, you were killed. After your death, everything spiraled out of control. My brother Harry and I spent a year on the run from the Dark Wizard who orchestrated your death and spent a year and half developing a potion that would amplify the power of the sand in the timeturners. We were only supposed to add a little to take us back to right before you were killed. That way, we could save you and you'd never have to speak to us, know who we were and we could shut ourselves in seclusion to brew the potion that would return us back to our time. We hoped that by saving you, the future would fix itself. But before we finished, Death Eaters attacked and I accidentally spilled all the contents of the sand into the potion. We were going to trash it and brew a new batch, but I got thrown onto the sands when a curse hit me. Then I ended up here, in the Forbidden Forest."

Dumbledore sat contemplatively, his fingers rubbing his temples. He processed all the information she'd given him. She certainly had been through quite an ordeal. That much was certain. He wasn't sure what to make of his death either. Everyone needed to go at one point or another, and old as he was, he'd come to terms with the fact that one day he may not be here any longer. "Well Artemis… I'm not quite sure what to make of this information yet. From the looks of it, your plan was well thought out. But you being 20 years in the past, instead of only a year and half can have detrimental effects to the future. I'm not talking about your future, I'm talking about the immediate future of those you come in contact with now. There is a lot of time for change, you see. Potter… don't tell me you're related to James somehow?"

"Yes, I am. His daughter actually," She said simply. Letting the headmaster know of her father's untimely demise would be meddling too much.

"Alright… how were you planning to get home anyway?"

"Well we weren't quite sure yet. You see, the urgency of our mission was much more important than trying to spend the time to come up with a return potion. In any case, we were only supposed to go back a year or two, which isn't really much in the grand scheme of things. Even if we couldn't brew on in time, time would eventually catch up with us anyway. But I guess it's a different story now, huh?"

"You got it, Artemis. I think you've been through enough in your life," said the Profesor slowly, not knowing if he was going to regret this. "Maybe it was a good thing you were sent back here. You've convinced me that you're a good judge of discretion, so perhaps while you're here, maybe you can use this as a healing opportunity. It seems that the people close to you are no longer alive. If they were, you wouldn't have come here. I also need time to figure out if I want to be saved. I know what you'll say, but please remember it's my decision. I'm going to know how you brewed the potion, so I can send you back to your future. In the meantime, however, we need an assistant for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher since Professor Fromby is often ill and has requested someone to take his place every now and then. I suppose you've had plenty of experience?" Questioned Dumbledore, not knowing that in the future, he would look back to this moment and find himself amused at not having understood that incredible presence before him.

"Yes, sir. Unfortunately I have. I would be honored. I could work on the formula for the return potion in the hours I'm not teaching?"

Dumbledore smiled kindly at the girl. "That won't be necessary. I will not burden you any further than this. I am very proficient in occlumency and I daresay that right now, you need to know what peace feels like again. Mingle with the people here. Befriend those that you otherwise wouldn't have a chance to meet. You've already warned me of my demise, so consider your mission accomplished for now at least."

"So what am I to tell the other students?"

"You'll tell them you're a transfer from Drumstrang brought into to TA because of your tremendous skill in DADA. While you are here, you will be completing some NEWT level courses of your choice."

"Wonderful!" For the first time, in a long time, her face broke out into a wide smile. "Thank you so much Professor! You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Not at all, I think perhaps you should sleep now, before Madame Pomfrey has my neck about keeping her patient from resting. Please be at the staff table tomorrow morning and we'll introduce you as a TA and have you sorted then. I'll have Professor McGonagall arrange for your clothes. Of course, the rest of the staff will only know the cover story." She stood up, grabbed the scrolls of paper on the bedside table, and left Artemis to sleep. Exhausted, she was asleep before her head even hit the pillow. Looking forward to tomorrow, she ignored the skelegrow and slept more soundly than she ever had in the past 2 years.


	4. Old Faces

Three very tired boys made their way into the Boy's dormitory after their close call with the mysterious woman. The three had agreed to keep Moony from ever finding out about what he had almost done. If Moony ever got wind of this, no one would be more hurt than he. Peter fell asleep almost instantaneously while Sirius and James lay on their back only pretending.

"Are you awake?" Asked Sirius.

"No. Fast asleep," came James' retort.

"Are you thinking about what happened tonight?"

"No. I'm think about Lily's pretty-"

"Don't wanna know!"

"Just kidding, of course I'm thinking about tonight. We could've been in some huge trouble. I'm really reconsidering whether not telling Remus is even a good idea. I mean, I like that we're there for him to get out a little once every month, but at what price? Maybe it's better for him if he just stays at the Shrieking Shack. And, no, I don't really mean that, but we _really_ cut it close tonight."

"I know what you mean, but it's not like anything happened. She got out safe, and none of us were forced to reveal our human forms, and we've never seen her before, so there's no way she could know who we were. I think we handled the situation, don't you think?"

"Yes but I think it could've gone either way. We're just lucky the woman was a fighter. If she hadn't stunned him, it would've been a different story. I don't know, maybe I'm losing my nerve a little."

"No, James you're right… But we can't keep Remus locked up again without explaining why so we're better of sucking it up and doing our best."

They both processed what had happened. Neither of them were happy about their close call. "Hey!" Said James suddenly. "Let's check the map. I bet her name'll show up in the Hospital Wing or at least Dumbledore's office."

"Oh! Good idea Prongs!" Sirius hurriedly scuttled out of his bed and went to James who pulled out the map. Holding it tenderly, he said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to know good."

The intricate lines forming the miniature model of Hogwarts made their way to the edges of the paper and little dots appeared, mostly clustered people in their dormitories. "Hospital wing, hospital wing…" muttered James.

"There!" Said Sirius. "Artemis Potter… Potter? What does that mean?"

"I've never seen her before. I don't think she's related to me."

"Yeah, and Potter's a pretty common name," concluded Sirius.

"Arrggghh!!! I don't know anymore. I'm just tired. We'll sneak down tomorrow to check on her? We could use the invisibility cloak."

"Yes I think that's a good idea," they concluded.

Making his way back to bed the two boys fell asleep almost instantly to catch the few remaining hours of sleep in the morning before classes.

The sun rose, brilliantly illuminating the hospital wing graciously in a honey gold color. The rays of light hit Artemis's raven hair and brought out the beautiful auburn highlights. She quickly ran a brush through the thick strands and got dressed in long black length robes. Most of her body had healed but her ribs were still fairly sore. Walking was an effort, but she'd managed to keep her poker face steady if only to convince Madame Pomfrey. At about 7 in the morning, she made her way to the Great Hall as the first of the student began to file their way in. She found a seat near Professor Dumbledore and sat down.

"Well, Ms. Potter. I'm glad you could join us this morning. How do you feel?" Asked Dumbledore with concern.

"I feel perfectly fine, Professor. Madame Pomfrey always does a great job."

"Well then, let me introduce you to some of the teachers… That is Minerva McGonagall – she teaches Transfiguration."

"Hello, dear." McGonagall said sternly.

"The one beside her is Professor Pots – Herbology, Professor Fromby – DADA; this is the student I was telling you about, Professor."

"Oh! Very good indeed to meet you Ms. Potter! I was quite astonished that the headmaster had found me someone on such short notice, I believe we'll make an excellent pair."

"Thank you, Professor," said Artemis. Dumbledore continued to introduce each of the Professors one by one as they seated themselves. It took a lot of energy for Artemis to look neutral, as most of them were no longer there in her future.

Somewhere in Griffindor tower, three young men were having a much more eventful morning and all hell was breaking loose.

"DAMN IT REMUS!!! I NEED SLEEP!' Roared a rather frustrated James.

"I'm not listening…" Said Sirius in a singsong voice.

"ALL OF YOU UP!!! I REFUSE TO GO TO BREAKFAST BY MYSELF! GET YOUR LAZY ARSES OUT OF BED IMMEDIATELY! PETER!!!" Yelled Remus, now smacking Peter with a pillow.

"Okay, OKAY! We're getting up… WHY are you so perky in the morning? I though you were supposed to all sulky and contemplative today?" Asked Sirius finally deciding not to mess with his furry friend.

Sirius and James slid out of bed and looked at their friend. He look tired, thin, and roughed up. They figured they shouldn't complain. Getting dressed and ready, they tried to wake Peter up once more, but failed rather miserably (I can't stand Peter so I refuse to write about him… I intend to just leave him out of most scenes). Sighing, and giving up, they brushed, washed their faces and trotted down to the common room, Remus, all the while not knowing what had his friends more exhausted than he.

The change on James face dramatically visible as Lily emerged at the same time from the girl's dormitory. "Lily, darling! Heading down for breakfast? I knew we had some sort of psychic link!" James bounded down the stairs and pulled her into a crushing hug.

"GET OFF ME POTTER!" She yelled furiously escaping his bear hug. "Way too early in the morning to deal with you!"

"I'm hurt, I thought we were making progress," said James melodramatically putting his hand over his heart feigning an expression of hurt.

"Yeah, yeah! Let's go to breakfast already! I'm hungry."

The four teenagers walked down to the Great Hall and seated themselves happily at the Gryffindor table. Chattering away, they didn't notice a dark pair of eyes throwing death glares at them.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" Hissed a droning voice from the Slytherin table. The curse his Sirius in the back and the teenager went stiff as he cluttered loudly to the floor. At this point, almost all the students were huddled at the Gryffindor table watching with rapt attention as the teacher's having yet to arrive.

Turning quickly, James' honed reflexes found the silent assailant and had the teenaged version of Snape flying back with a well aimed _Expelliarmus_. "Should've known you'd do something cowardly and attack someone's back," said James coolly, losing the playful attitude he'd worn while flirting with Lily.

"You're one to talk Potter! I don't know how you did it, but I know the reason why my bed erupted in fireworks today. Since I can't prove it, I'll settle for punishing you myself." Raising his wand again, he muttered a spell that shot through the air, crackling black and maroon lightning, narrowly missing James' head.

"Here we go again," muttered Remus as he stood watching the daily morning routine.

"Severus! That's enough! Whatever happened, it does _not_ mean you can go around using dark magic!" Scolded Lily quietly. The crowd began to whisper furiously. Everyone already knew about Snape's dabbling in the dark arts, but it was another thing to see it live.

"I don't want to hear that from you _mudblood!_" Spat Snape with every ounce of hatred he could muster. Lily looked like she was about to cry, but being the temperamental witch she was, she turned around and sat back down leaving the boys to kill each other for all she cared.

"Fine! Don't come crying to me when you get your arse handed back to you!" She said rather vindictively. Meanwhile Sirius's curse had worn off and he flexed his arms getting feeling back once again.

"_Densaugeo!" _he said with a vengeance. The spell reverberated through the hall, and as it was about to hit its target, it was at the final minute neutralized by a shower of red sparks.

"Well, now! Amusing as that would be, I think we've had a little too much fun already." Standing before him, was a panel of all the Hogwarts teachers, the woman who had neutralized the spell standing in the center her wand raised, an amused expression on her face.

James' and Sirius eyes both went wide with surprise, a reaction they managed to control all too quickly. They certainly had not anticipated her to be here, especially not in the condition she was in last night.

"Well, I suppose as headmaster I should be taking points and setting detentions but in honor of our new student here, perhaps we can settle with a warning and let it go," said Dumbledore kindly. Chuckling slightly, he led the girl to the front of the hall where they noticed the sorting hat. "I hope everyone enjoyed themselves at the feast yesterday!" At that, he got a few appreciative cheers. "Wonderful, today, I would like to introduce another student who has just arrived yesterday night due to some transportation difficulties. I hope you will make Artemis Potter feel welcome and at home. She is originally from Durmstrang and will be the teacher's assistant for your DADA classes."

A few of the students exchanged curious looks, but no one made any inquiries as she seated herself on the stood and placed the hat neatly on top of the wavy crow of her head.

"I see… quite an interesting piece of work you are Ms. Potter." The sorting hats voice said to her inside her head.

_I believe Dumbledore filled you into my situation. Please… I need to be sorted in Gryffindor. It would make my trip here much more worthwhile._

"I believe you're right. Besides, I cannot see you anywhere else." Then loudly, he yelled to the crowd, "This one belongs in… GRYFFINDOR!"

The table erupted in cheers as she made her way to the familiar table.

"Artemis! Over here!" The red head Lily waved to her furiously.

She walked over with a friendly smile and sat down between Lily and Remus. "Hello Artemis, I'm Remus. I'm the Gryffindor prefect so I guess it'll be my responsibility to show you around."

"Yes, it's very nice to meet you. I'm Lily. I'm the Head Girl so, likewise, if you ever need anything I'll be able to help you out!"

"Thank you, it's very kind of you to offer." Artemis was speechless for a little while in the presence of her mother. Lily seemed to be such a kind and wonderful person that she couldn't help wonder what it would have been like if she'd been raised by her. Keeping her emotions in check, she turned and flashed a grin toward the younger Remus and Lily. "So I suppose I'll be rooming up with you then, Lily?"

"That's right-"

"Lily darling, why don't you introduce us to your new friend?"

"Hello _James_, and I'm _not_ your darling." Artemis secretly chuckled at the dynamic between her mother and father.

"Well, now it's only a matter of time. Why delay the inevitable," he said with a cocky grin. "I'm James. And this grinning fool is Sirius."

"Can you please not soil my reputation before I even talk to the lady?"

"Anyways, just ignore your highnesses here," said Remus. "So tell us about this whole DADA teaching thing your doing."

"Oh leave it to Remus to ask about school," retorted Sirius.

Laughing, Artemis decided to clarify it for them. "Well, not to worry. You see at Durmstrang Academy, there is a fairly large focus on Defense Against the Dark Arts. So in that sense I kind of have a notch up on you folks. I want to teach DADA someday, so Professor Dumbledore offered me a position teaching the course in conjunction with Professor Fromby." She knew James and Sirius weren't about to buy the whole Durmstrang excuse for her level in skill. But fortunately they wouldn't be able to ask her anything about it. Hopefully, she could just enjoy her days as a normal student at Hogwarts, train for when she got back to her own time, and enjoy the company of the people in her life she never had a chance to know.

As if on cue, she saw James and Sirius exchange looks. She'd never been more impressed by the two boys. They were both fun and easy going, but showed a deep intelligence that glimpsed itself every so often. The more perceptive than they let on and even as she spoke to them, she found herself unwilling to give up their company.

"Well, Artemis, seems your first class is Transfiguration. Let me do the honors of showing you where it is." Sirius jumped up and extended his arm for Artemis to hold. Hesitantly, she reached out as well and grasped his fingers. After 3 years of getting used to the fact that her Godfather was dead, she gripped his fingers tightly and felt the life pulse through his hands, his warmth extending into her body.

Blushing slightly at her overwhelmed feelings, she got out of her chair and silently followed him to the transfiguration classroom.

"She's an odd one," commented James. "She's definitely got something going on and I'm going to figure out whatever it is."

"What do you mean?! She's a nice girl and you'll do no such thing as snooping James Potter. Urgh, you're incorrigible! I know you like to bully others, but common on, she's a girl and a nice one at that! Just leave her alone."

"That's just it Lily. She's nice. How many Durmstrang girls do you know that are 'nice'. Not to mention, she's powerful. At least she is if she's already at the level where Dumbledore is able to trust her enough to teach DADA." _Then there was the incident last night, _thought James. "Then there's the fact that her last name is _Potter_. Admittedly, there are many Potters in the world, but how many do you know that are wizarding? I would've heard of another wizarding Potter family if there was one. Believe me, I want to like her. But I think there's something off about her. I just don't trust her yet."

"Well James, looks like your finally using that big head of yours," said Lily with a smirk.

"Impressed? Wait, let me do it again." Lily burst out laughing as James pulled an expression of pretend concentration.

"I don't buy it. I think you should be careful not to offend her. We don't know her enough to know if she's hiding something. Okay enough, let's go now, we all have transfiguration next."

The three teenagers got up and walked out of the Great Hall heading towards the first of their classes.


	5. Suspicions

A/N: Hello everyone! Okay, I know I've been out of commission for a LOONNGGG time, but I had a REALLY busy semester, then my computer crashed taking along with it, all the cool plans I had for this story, which meant I had to reconstruct everything from scratch. I've finally managed to figure everything out... but the writing process has been a little slow. Anyway, I just wrote me first chapter after my hiatus, and I hope you all enjoy it. It's a little slow, but it'll pick up soon enough. I'm about to add Peter to mix NEXT chapter, so don't think I've neglected him completely. Anyhow, I'll try and update more often!

Having missed her seventh year classes, it was nice to finally be learning NEWT transfiguration the normal way, with McGonagall teaching up front. She watched in rapt attention as the professor who no longer existed in her time taught her course in that characteristically McGonagall matter of fact manner. Even so, she couldn't help but sneak glances at Sirius and Lily. She hadn't meant to ignore James, but the more she looked at him, the more he reminded her of what she had lost - a father, and his spitting image, her brother.

Transfiguration was exactly how she'd remembered it. She'd been very careful to hold back and make sure she didn't get everything right the first time round. Being a good year and a half older than everyone really had given her an edge, but she refused to stand out. There was enough of that in her time. Partnering up with Lily during Charms was perhaps the most pleasant experience of her day. She learned that her mother was not only a very kind woman, but rather brilliant at charms. They really weren't kidding when they said she was one of the most talented witches in her year. Of course Artemis was no slacker herself and they work quickly and diligently on the bubble-head charm. So engrossed were they in their work, neither of them noticed the witch's hair beside them turn a rather unflattering neon pink. Only when she sang out "I'M IN LOVE WITH SIRIUS" were they startled out of their work.

"Woah mate, looks like you have another admirer!" Sputtered James in between roars of laughter, as the now beet red witch ran out of the classroom in sheer embarrassment.

"Ms. Harrison! Just a moment," McGonagall called out. "Don't you move, I'll be right back," she said sternly as she swept after the young witch.

"JAMES POTTER! That was unbelievably cruel! And YOU Sirius, how could just humiliate someone like that?"

"Calm down Lily, we didn't know she was in LOVE with me. But then again, who isn't?" Smirked Sirius.

"I don't think that's what Lily meant, Sirius" interjected Artemis. She was hoping she could end this calmly before James and Sirius ended up in too much trouble, with her mother. "What if the girl had been thinking of something a bit more private than her feelings for Sirius. Perhaps a friend's secret? That wasn't just a prank, it was a complete invasion of privacy."

"Well, I didn't know Durmstrang was so keen on privacy." Retorted James looking slightly put off.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Despite herself, Artemis was taking the bait, starting to get annoyed at her fathers wild conclusions, when she literally had done nothing wrong.

"Yeah, Potter, what exactly are you implying here?" Now the tension was thicker than Bubotuber pus as Lily came to Artemis' defense.

"Well look at that, it's time for Herbology. Alice, I believe that's your specialty, perhaps you'd do the honor of leading Ms. Potter here to the Greenhouses? We'll join you in a bit." It was Remus who broke the tension and the crowd scattered as the show was over. People began to file out and a light brown haired, round faced woman walked over to Artemis.

"Hello, I'm Alice Hurst. And THAT is my wonderful boyfriend, Frank Longbottom," she said pointing a thumb over her shoulder. "Just so you know he's taken," she winked.

"Oh Alice, not EVERY girl has her sights set on your boyfriend," exclaimed Lily.

"No harm in letting her know."

Still lost in thought, Artemis chuckled before saying, "don't worry, I'm sure he's not my type. It's very nice to meet you," _while your sane_, she thought sadly.

"By the way, it was pretty impressive of you to stand up for Margo, when you didn't even know her. You might have pissed off Sirius and James but hey, it was worth it to see their faces. Anyway, shall we?" And without waiting for a response, she grabbed Lily and Artemis' arms and dragged them towards the greenhouses.

Meanwhile, the three Marauders marched up to Gyffindor Tower to wake up their fourth member who ALWAYS slept in after their monthly adventures.

"So want to tell us why you were so... rude to Artemis, James?" Asked Remus.

"Hah! He's probably jealous that Lily has found yet another person to be friends with while he's still on her blacklist!" Joked Sirius.

"Look, I just don't trust her," said James. "If you ask me we should have cast the charm on her instead of Margo. And if you hadn't moved my hand at the lat minute, Remus, our awesome prank would have succeeded, and we would have learned what she was hiding AND made it look like we hadn't meant to target her!"

"Yes, us and the whole class. I know you guys didn't notice this, but since I have that little furry problem, I can smell blood on her. It's old blood from old wounds that are still healing, but she's been hurt recently. And it's not our place to decide to broadcast her life for everyone to hear."

So annoyed was Remus, that he didn't even notice his friends were not the least bit surprised with the mention of Artemis having been hurt. In fact, Sirius and James had both noticed the slight changes in expression and cringing when she moved or turned. Probably the effects of those broken ribs, they thought grimly. Which brought them to their second issue.

"She doesn't go to Durmstrang, Remus," said James.

"What do you mean? How would you know that?"

"James, we decided not to," said Sirius, realizing where this conversation was going.

"I thought it over, Sirius. He has a right to know what happened. It's not fair to keep him in the dark. Besides, we'll need his co-operation if we're going to find out the enigma that is Artemis Potter."

"Okay, enough with the riddles, what did happened?" Now Remus was getting antsy. He didn't like them keeping secrets from him, mostly because he knew the only times they did was so that he would feel bad.

James and Sirius exchanged looks. After a moment of silence, James launched into the happenings of the night before. "Last night, while we were roaming around and having fun, you suddenly changed. The reason was because of Artemis. We don't know how it happened, we'd made SURE to check the map over and over, and no one was in the forest when we took you out. So we figured, there was no one who'd be awake except for us."

"Then suddenly I could smell blood," added Sirius. "My nose isn't as great as yours but, I could smell the strong scent of blood in the air and I knew you could smell it ten times better. We chased after you and found Artemis crumpled against a tree -"

"Oh God, what did I do to her? AND YOU WEREN'T GOING TO TELL ME THIS?" Exclaimed Remus.

"REMUS! Calm down, you didn't do anything to her. She was already pretty beaten up when you got to her. She was covered in blood, probably her own but not all of it was hers, I could tell. She looked like she'd been through hell. Her body was literally giving up on her. Her wrist was definitely shattered, and I'm sure her ribs were broken, because I carried her on my back to Dumbledore's office on my back and they were poking me at odd angles. Not to mention, she took one look at Hogwarts and leapt of my back. After a bit of thinking, she decided to get back on and let me take her to the castle," finished Sirius.

"That's not all, she's our age, but she managed to properly stun you in you werewolf form. That's just ridiculous! Not even fully grown wizards can do that. So we know she's fairly powerful," added James.

"I nearly killed someone." Remus sat on the armchair in their common room and buried his face in his hands. "We can't do this anymore. The monthly adventures have to stop. I know this was probably a once in a lifetime thing, but once is all it takes, I just can't do this again."

"It's okay Moony, we understand. And we're sorry for being so reckless," said James.

"So what do you think? Do you think she's dark? If she was why would she be at Hogwarts and in that condition" Asked Remus.

"I don't know. But if she wasn't then why all the secrecy? It's not like we can even ask her, without her knowing we were the animagi who helped her. Dumbledore says she's from Durmstrang but I can't help but think there's more to the story. It's not possible for someone our age to be that powerful without having dabbled in the Dark Arts. Not to mention, if she can TA DADA, then she MUST know a lot about the dark magic. That's why I wanted to hit her with the charm today. If she has nothing to hide, a little humiliation, is perfect for a 'new kid' prank. If she does have something to hide, it gets brought on the table, and we can nip it in the butt," concluded James.

"Whatever, the case, I think if Dumbledore trusts than we should too," said Remus.

"Dumbledore's only human. I'm going to get to the bottom of this mystery if it's the last thing I do. I don't know. I need to know who the hell she is," concluded James.

"Just don't give Lily the wrong impression," joked Sirius.

"Not a bad idea, Padfoot. I wonder how jealous that would make my Lily, if I started to hit on the new girl."

"She's quite a looker, curvy in all the right places too. I should know, she was ALL over me. In the literal sense," grinned Sirius.

"Jeez, Padfoot, glad to see our little suspicions haven't taken the dog out of you. Just don't let her seduce you too much." Mused Remus.

The three boys got up, went to wake up their lazy fourth comrade and trotted their way to Potions after having successfully skipped Herbology.


	6. The Darkness

Hi guys! I know it's been VERY long since I've updated. Okay not as long as last time, but still pretty long. Truth is, I was having an aweful writers block. I'm very whimsicle that way. Anyhow, I have managed to pick up speed with this story and have produced another chapter. And this one is for all the angst lovers out there ^_^.

And just a VERY special thank you to my first and seemingly only reviewer out there: **LilleSkutt!** Thank you for reviewing my story, I'm really glad you like it, and I hope I don't disappoint. You few words, were a great source of encouragement to me!

So there you have it, I love reviews! The make my day. So take few moments, hit the review button and let me know what you thought of the story. OKAY... now to the main event! ^_^

_She was running. The only thing that would release her pent up frustration. Into the darkness, she ran towards a perpetual nothingness. Almost as if trying to feed the emptiness inside her, searching for the light and warmth she once felt, little as it used to be. And then it happened. Only to add more insult to her injury, the ground collapsed. Crumbling beneath her very feet, she struggled to breathe. Something moist fell on her face and she noticed her surroundings were now an Earthy grave. Panic seized her as she tried to claw her way up the sides, only to reach the top and be plunged back down into darkness. However, not before seeing his name. "Here lies the grave of Harry Potter". How fitting. Her brother died for her and now she would die in his grave. _

NO I don't want to die! _She thought furiously. _I can't die!_ Her efforts were futile and with each try she felt hope leave her. And then a piercing pain shooting through her heart. An iron rod coursing through her body and then brutally ripped out of her. As the withered in agony, she turn her head slowly to see the face of her assailant. Nothing however could prepare her for those eyes. The blaming, accusing eyes of her beloved brother. _

_"You let me die," Harry's face was contorted in rage as he accused his sister of killing him. "You killed me, and doomed the last hope for mankind!"_

_Artemis cowered in the sudden outburst. Openly sobbing now, "I'm sorry Harry. I didn't mean to. It should have been me. I should have been faster. I- I love you." _

_"YOU KILLED ME! If you'd never existed, I would've been fine!" _

_Heart broken she tried to defend herself, but it was futile. She would not be able to justify her carelessness. It was true now. She had destroyed any hope that muggles had. Voldemort could not be destroyed anymore and she was to blame. _

_She shook violently as the realization hit her. Harry's face began to rot. The grave crumbled around her sending torrents of Earth crashing down. She was choking._

_"How could you just leave me to rot..." was the last thing she heard._

And then she was awake.

_Harry,_ she thought. And then it hit her. It hit her like a ton of bricks. _How could I have... forgotten. _The sands had not only hit her, they had also toppled over her brother. Somewhere out there, in the forbidden forest, Harry lay dead. There was no grave, no tombstone. There was nothing to mark his passage. He was simply left to rot and be scavenged by whatever wild animal decided to feed on his dead carcass.

She felt sick with the realization, leaned over the edge of her bed and threw up all over the floor.

Artemis inhaled deeply and calmed herself down. Her neck was coated with a lining of a cold sweat and tank top soaked through. Tears were falling freely from her eyes, but not one sob escaped her lips now. It was only when she'd blinked a few times and exhaled that she registered the curious eyes staring at her with identically worried faces.

"Are you okay?" Asked Lily, the first to recover from the shock or violent reaction to whatever nightmare she was having.

"Stop asking stupid questions, Lily, of_ course_ she isn't _okay_." This voice belonged to Alice.

"That must've been some nightmare, you were crying in your sleep. You looked like you couldn't even breathe, and your face was in so much pain. If Lily hadn't been up to get some water, we wouldn't have even heard you," said Margo.

Groggy and still weak from the disturbing nightmare, she looked up at the three women in front of her. "I'm sorry for worrying you," she started. Her face hung, her eyes covered by her bangs. "I'm okay," she stated. She cleaned up her face and the mess she made on the floor with her wand.

"No way, we're not buying that!" Demanded Lily.

"I'm fine, really. I'd rather not talk about this."

"Don't think you can just shy away and wallow all by yourself! We're your friends."

"That's right. I know you stuck up for me, when you didn't even know me. If you could defend a complete stranger like that, what makes you think that I'm about to ignore you now?" Stated Margo.

"You might as well just let us help you. We're not going away." Smiled Alice.

"So just unlo-"

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK!" Screamed Artemis. "What did you think, I could just unload on you three and all my worries would be gone? You CAN'T help me! STOP talking to me like you understand! There are some things NO amount of _talking_ can fix!" Angry at herself, angry at the three women for thinking her problems were so little, angry at her outburst, she did the first thing that came to mind - bolted out the door. Before anyone could follow her, she was out the portrait hole and outside of the castle.

Too stunned to do anything, the three women exchanged worried looks, decided nothing more could be done now, and tried to go back to sleep. After all, how much did they know this girl anyway. Perhaps some time to cool off was all she really needed.

It was only after a few hours and some thought and guilt on Lily's part that she snuck over to the boys dormitory and attempted to wake a sleeping James. She must have been tired, because it was not James who she had awoken, it was Sirius Black. Hurriedly, she explained what happened. Assuring her he'd find her, Sirius sent her back to the girls dorm and took off to find the tormented Artemis before she could cause herself any permanent damage, not bothering to wake up the other three. Glancing at the map, he saw a still dot in the very heart of the forbidden forest.

Artemis stumbled through the forbidden forest. She wasn't sure where she was going. She couldn't even see anymore. It seemed like the tears were never ending. Though freezing in her tank top and shorts she felt hot. Her feet burned from being barefoot in the forest and her jaw hurt from grinding her teeth. But she didn't feel this. All she felt was her heart on fire and the more she thought, the more it hurt.

_Where are you Harry. Where... I can't find you. How can I save you if I can't find you? _She hurried forward, back to where she had landed and deeper into the forest. She'd walked around for hours but it seemed like it was hopeless. Finally, she stumbled and fell hard on the ground.

_Harry... I found you._ The tears had stopped falling as she took in the image of her brother laying on his front, head contorted to one side, eyes close, and thought every dead, a serene expression on his face. _My baby... I'm so sorry. But don't you worry. _With a pained expression she touched his cheek softly. In death, he looked fragile. His pale skin tinged with grey. The once vivacious hair lay limp and she ran her fingers through the locks. _I'm going to make this right. _She thought angrily. _I'm in the past for a reason. I won't let you stay dead. _

With a new determination, she began the slow and tedious task of digging a grave. With her bare hands, she dug a hole a few feet deep. Mechanically, she kept digging until her fingers bled, until the cold had made them numb. She dug until the hole was deep enough. Pulling out her wand, she cleaned up her little brother. She gently levitated him and placed him softly in the grave. She let her magic replace the Earth back into the grave.

She managed to say a quick prayer and stumble into a grassy clearing before the exhaustion slipped in and her consciousness gave out.

It was only a half hour after Artemis had collapsed in the clearing when Sirius caught up with her. Slipping out of his animagus form, he slowly approach her and assessed the damage. She fingers were bleeding, and she lay shivering of the dewy grass beneath her. It never seemed to amaze him how powerful she could be in that little fragile body of hers. He hated that he wasn't able to figure her out yet. Sure he was smitten by her a little - hell who wouldn't be - but he didn't know if he could trust her. There were too many anomolies. It didn't feel like someone so breakable could ever be evil, but then again, these were dark times, and who ever really knew what was inside a person's heart.

Knowing there was no way he could manage to get her on his back in his animagus form, he crouched down and lifted her effortlessly and began the slow trek back to school.

It was nearing dawn when they finally arrived at the school gates. Artemis stirred and her eyes fluttered open. "Sirius?" She whispered. She could feel two strong arms protectively holding her. She was warm and comfortable. Like she was floating. Then she realized she was floating.

"Second night here and your already robbing me of my sleep," joked Sirius.

"I'm sorry. What are you doing here? Put me down. I must be heavy."

"My lean and mean figure isn't for show you know. I think I can carry a light weight like yourself." Despite himself, Sirius was actually enjoying carrying her through the halls. The curves of her body fit into the frame and it was like holding a warm, soft, something. Her tank top was riding up and it was not without a hell of a lot of self control did he notice her smooth taught stomach. "You should probably clean yourself up and talk to Lily. She was really upset." He added, more to get his mind out of the gutter than anything else.

"Oh no! Lily, I kind of bit her head off. I won't even be able to look her in the eye." They were now in the common room.

"I know. She told me you did. But the good thing about those girls is that they understand." He stood her up near the girls stairs slowly. "Well we're here,"he said awkwardly. His hand rummaged the back of his neck, his finger intertwined with his long locks of hair.

"I'm sorr-"

"No more apologizing. I won't even ask what the big fuss was about. But you'd better listen to me carefully, Artemis. I care a lot about my friends. I don't know who you are, and and I certainly don't know if I can trust you." He reached his hand out and cupped her cheek. "You seem delicate... something about you is very serene," he continued. Slowly his hand moved towards her jaw, and further down until they reached their destination. "If you ever hurt my friends, I won't hesitate to break you pretty little neck. And I'll do it without a wand," he said as his finger tightened, painfully causing her to wince.

His grip slackened, and he turned on his heel and marched up the boys dormitory.

Unable to go back to sleep she showered and cleaned the mud from her face, hair, and pretty much everywhere else. She got dressed and waited for the girls to wake up so she could offer them a proper apology.

_What are you doing? _She berated herself. _I'm supposed to blend in! Not cause a scene._ She figured she'd best stick to the truth for her explanation. She didn't want to make up anymore lies, and for the way she acted, she owed them a semi-decent explanation.


	7. Defense Classes

**Alrighty! I have been SUPER excited for this fanfic, spurred on by all my reviewers (all three of you XD). I'm really glad you all like the story, and it's nice to know this is a decent fanfic. So I've finished this chapter. I've almost finished the next one, so you won't have to wait long for it, and this might a little slow, but its kind of a plot pushing chapter. Anyhow... ENJOY! And please review =) Really, take some time, make a person happy =D. OKAY to the main event...**

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The next few weeks passed without incident. And while Artemis had resolved to give them a half decent explanation, she couldn't bring herself to play the pity card. Not with the family that meant so much to her. She figured if she did, she would have to give them the full proper version, and she would only do it, if they really pushed her into it. For now, however, the girls didn't want an answer. And while on the surface, everything between them was pleasant, it was clear there was a rift between her and the other three. And really, who could she blame but herself. It wasn't easy putting up a smile when the one person who'd meant everything was not around. It was official. Artemis was in a deep depression. While her lips curled in a smile, her eyes did not laugh with her, and she felt empty. The joy she felt when she'd first met her parents was replaced with regret. The burden of the knowledge of their death bore heavy on her shoulders. Each passing day, she watched as her mother became vary of her, and her father's distrust in her became more and more apparent. But she would persevere. She was here for a reason and that reason was to save her little brother from death. She just didn't know how. And that was what frustrated her the most. While her days were spent being a normal student, her nights were spent sneaking into the library doing research into time travel and time paradoxes. The lack of sleep and the minimal food intake was weakening her, but she didn't really care. She would do whatever she had to find some answers.

The small changes in her did not go unnoticed. Over a glass of orange juice, James peered at Artemis. This was becoming almost ritualistic of James now. He didn't know why he was so obsessed with the girl. He only knew she was bad news and that she was in dangerously close proximity to Lily. And he would be damned if anyone hurt her on his watch, right under his nose. He'd already lost a lot to the dark side, his parents for starters.

"So, taken an interest in Artemis, have we? I thought I was the only one who went through that tick brain of yours" Smirked Lily, seating herself between James and Sirius.

"Oh, is that a hint of jealousy I hear?" Retaliated James.

"I told you starring at her too long would give Lily the wrong impression," grinned Sirius.

"Yeah right! Both of you! I have nothing to be jealous of."

"Wow, that was rather cruel. Don't think the transfer's good enough for your amazing James do you?" Baited Sirius.

"Don't be ridiculous! Jeez, I try making one decent conversation, why does it ALWAYS end up on this topic?" She fumed.

"Hey, you brought this on yourself :P" Snickered James.

"Anyway, why _have_ you been starring at Artemis? Since you obviously don't have an interest in her," said Lily rather haughtily.

"Who says I don't?" Then an ingenious thought struck James. How does one get close to a woman and have her spilling all her secrets? Date her. How does one attempt to date a woman who says she has no interest? Make her jealous. It was perfect, he'd kill two birds with one stone.

"Uh oh... Lily, he's got that strange look on his face. I think he's about to do som-"

"Hey Arty!" Yelled James across the hall, shaking the poor girl out of her stupor. Her hair shifted and arranged gracefully around her shoulders as she looked up from her book. "You, me, Hogsmeade Village, this weekend 10 am! It's a date, don't be late."

With a flashy playboy smirk that was ridiculously uncharacteristic of him, he swept out of the hall leaving a very distraught Artemis and even a more distraught Lily awestruck.

"What?" They both chorused together.

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As if one shock for the day wasn't enough, when Artemis took her seat at the breakfast table the next day, the same table at which James was so obviously avoiding her, so she would not have a chance to say no to his date, a large brown barn owl landed with grace in front of her bowl of cereal.

Quickly untying the letter and feeding the large bird some toast in return, she looked to the letter.

_Dear Artemis Potter,_

_I assume you have been settling in quite nicely with your "friends". I know things have not been easy for you, but I'm sure they will eventually. I can only hope that you are currently enjoying your time here._

_Now, without beating around the bush too much, Professor Fromby has taken ill once again and will need someone to take over for the next few days until he is up to teaching again. You are to only handle the 6th and 7th years. We'll get you to teach them together to take into consideration your time. I've attached a list of the topics I would like you to cover with this year._

_Thank you for taking upon this responsibility. Your first class will be this afternoon. I know you don't have too much time to prepare for it, but I thought the theme was rather appropriate._

_Yours always,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Artemis read the letter twice and then placed it carefully in her bag. Removing the attached list, she saw a list of the topics that Professor Dumbledore had wanted her to cover in Fromby's absence.

_Day 1: Being prepared for the unprepared _(That's what he meant by the irony, thought Artemis)

_Day 2: Dueling Basics_

_Day 3: The Imperius_

_Day 4: Cruciatus and The Killing Curse_

_Day 5: Patronus_

This is where the list ended. It looked like she was about to teach her peers some of the more advanced magic. She wondering if they would even take her seriously, she'd come as average in all her classes, and while DADA was her favorite by far, she's dumbed it down to make sure that she didn't draw any unwanted attention.

Finally, she sighed and when afternoon approached, she headed down to the DADA classroom and waited patiently for the class to arrive.

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Artemis sat on the edge of a chair her head cradled in her hands. She was beginning to feel anxious as the 6th and 7th years began to file in for their DADA classes. Last but not least entered James, Sirius, Remus, and trailing close behind, Peter Pettigrew.

Without removing her head from her arms, she said "There are two witches dueling in a graveyard."

The class grew silent. _Time to see what she's got, _thought James.

"Witch number 1, she's a Death Eater. Witch number 2, well... she's also a Death Eater."

"Two Death Eaters, what would _they_ have to fight about?", asked Lily.

"Because, one of them is a traitor. That's right, one of the two dueling is a spy for the light side," said Artemis simply. "Lucky for our traitor witch, she hasn't been ratted out yet to He-Who-Must-Not-Named. And she won't be if she manages to kill the other one."

The class took in the information and waited for her continue.

"So lets say you're witch 2. The good witch. What would you do?" She finally took her heads out of her hands and looked at the crowd. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... our two duelers, they're siblings. Twins. Together since birth."

The contemplative silence was deafening. The were starring at her like she was an alien. Finally Sirius, raised his hand.

"Why is this important to us? Why would you even ask us something like that?" He looked at her with disgust. Clearly, she must derive some sick pleasure from pitting siblings together in her fantasies.

"Maybe if you'd answer the question, you'd know."

"I'd do it." Said Nott. _Of course you would, _thought Artemis, looking at the future Death Eater.

"How could you say that? You'd kill your own brother? Just so you could continue to spy?" Roared James with disgust. "That wouldn't make you any better than You-Know-Who's cronies!"

"Easy for you to say, Potter! You don't have a brother." Spat Avery.

"My friends _are_ my brothers. And I could no more harm them then harm my own family."

"Don't forget James, in this scenario, you come from a family that endorses the dark side. You're the deviant who turned traitor to their cause. You may not want to kill them, but they may want to kill you." Added Artemis.

"It doesn't matter! Family is family. If I was raised believing the Dark side was the right one, and I managed to be convinced otherwise, what's not to say that my family wouldn't eventually come over too?"

"And what about the lives you could be saving by staying in You-Know-Who's ranks?" Asked Peter.

Though this was one of the few times she'd heard him speak, she was rather impressed by his insight. _Cunning as always_ thought Artemis. _How he made it into Gryffindor boggles me continually._

This time it was Sirius who spoke up, "Look, once someone get entrenched into the Dark, there's no saving them." As he spoke, he wore a pained expression on his face. _He's probably thinking about Regalus,_ thought Artemis. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him and his situation. She knew very well what kind of family he belonged to. And it hut her to see someone she so fiercely cared about hurt like that. "Believe me. I would hate it, but I may not have a choice in the matter."

"We always have a choice in the matter. If we begin to compromise our morals, then what does it matter how many lives we save? We'd end up corrupting ourselves and the society we influence." This time is was Lily who answered. "I think we've played your game long enough _Professor_." She spat. "Now can we know why we're being forced to make these hypothetically moral/immoral decisions?"

Chuckling, Artemis proceeded to answer her and the rest of the class. "That was quite a debate we sparked. In a case like this, it is difficult to say what one should do and what one should not do. It is even easier to judge the actions of that person without consideration of what it took them to make the decision they did and the guilt of the consequences. In any case, we are all in our final year at Hogwarts. Within a year, you'll be off doing your own thing. Contributing to the war in your own way. Some times the decisions you make will be tainted with grief and pain. Sometimes the decisions you make will be reflex. And more often then not, you will be caught off guard." She paused a little thoughtfully now. "I know I'm you age, but I've had some considerable experience dealing with the Dark Arts. Which is why our headmaster allows me to run some of the classes. You would do well to pay attention and learn from what I have to offer. In a short period of time, you will not have people to guide you the way you have now.

"Today's class is about being prepared for the unprepared. Some of you here are destined for great things - be it good or bad. The most important thing is to be witness to the values and beliefs you hold dear to. Because in a world of chaos, that is the only thing that your mind will be able to rationalize. Perhaps the way you think will also change, but when you rationalize it, your thinking changes consciously. And your decisions are also a factor of that conscious change. In every war, there must be sacrifices. The flow of events cannot always be stopped. There will always be dirty work that needs to be done. Everyone of you will have to make hard decisions. When you're up against the enemy with your life on the line, reason flies out the window and all you are left with is your courage. And a little luck." She looked around and saw a few puzzled face in the crowd. "Now don't you all talk at once," she joked.

But it seemed the class had nothing else to say. "Alright, then," she said. "Seems we've gone a little bit overtime for now. I'll let you all get to your class for now." Slowly, the class filed out of the room. "We're doing dueling basics next class! Read the chapter on it before you come!" She yelled to quickly leaving students.

"Well, that was some class." Spinning around, she was startled to see Dumbledore sitting at the far end of the room.

"Wha- How long have you been there?" She stammered, a little embarrassed.

"Well... You didn't think I'd just let you off on your own? I know your a few years older than the other students, but they think you are their age. I feared they would not take you seriously. But I think it went well. Quite an interesting way you had of preparing them for the unexpected. I myself would have taught them some basic maneuvers."

"Naw, I left that for the dueling class. I figured, give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him for life. You won't ever be able to stop the unexpected from happening, but you can control how you'll react to it. And those reactions should be based on rationality. That's all I wanted them to take away from the class."

"Well... I don't regret my decision. I knew you'd be good at this."

The two sat for a while in silence. "I think I've figure out how to get you home."

"So soon?" She asked surprised. "Professor. I can't go back yet! Please, I have to fix things form here!" She was now beginning to panic. She's only been in this place for a few weeks. Not enough to change anything significant. "Professor, I have to make sure certain things don't happen. If you send me back without achieving that, we'll be doomed forever. I'm not powerf-"

"Artemis!" Though he had not yelled, he effectively shut her up. "I will not have indulging too much information that is sensitive. I'm of half a mind to keep you confined here to ensure you do not do anything irresponsible. And should you do something irresponsible, believe me, that is exactly what I will be forced to do. I will not hear anymore of where you are from."

"Professor..." She looked down. "Professor, if you only you knew what it was like." Miserably, she looked down, trying to stop the tears of frustration as they build up. Why wouldn't he understand? Didn't he think that he could trust her? Didn't he know she knew how serious this was and that there was no way she'd risk anything like this unless there was a dire need?

"The potion you made, it was incredibly powerful. We can brew a counter potion, but we don't know how long it'll take." He handed her a few scrolls of parchment. "These are the plans for the potion. I thought I'd let you have a copy for your records. But I hope you will destroy them when the time comes." With those words, silently he gracefully stood from his chair and swept out of the room. Without her knowledge, a small rat with two beady eyes, also scurried out from a crack in the wall and into the Gryffindor common room, where he retold the details of Artemis' and Dumbledore's conversation to the curiously waiting James, Sirius, and Remus.


	8. Hogsmeade

**Hey everyone! I have finished yet another chapter :D I was really excited about this one, it's kind of a turning point, which I know are always fun to read. I know the romance aspect isn't all there yet, but you have to realize there are a lot of issues for them to clear here before that can come up. And I really wanted to develop it. **

**A REALLY big thank you to **Tessia** for you SUPER kind words. I'm really glad you like it!**

**And also a shout out to **VisionSeer! **Thank you for your review! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE your suggestion =D As you will see, I've incorporated it with a little bit of a change. BUT for future reference, I actually have a LOT of flexibility with my plot, so if there is ANYTHING you as a reader would like to see, I would love to try and incorporate it in. But rather than leaving it in a review, please PM me. That way, I'll be able to add it in, if I can, and it won't ruin the suspense for others either =)**

**Well, without much ado... ONWARDS!**

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Saturday came a little too quickly for Lily's taste, but not quickly enough for Artemis. Lily said she didn't care, but her cold attitude and edgy atmosphere told otherwise. Artemis on the other hand was secretly excited. Perhaps this was exactly what Lily needed to admit her feelings for James. At least _she_ wasn't about to snag James from Lily. So there really was nothing to worry about. She was well aware of James intentions, and she figured, she's have to face them eventually. Perhaps this could be the one chance she had of curbing her father's distrust of her.

She woke up early that morning and went into the shower. She was chose to dress casually, so she grabbed an orangish cotton skirt that reached her ankles. It had a slit up to her thigh making it perfect walking around all day, and the waist area was slightly bejeweled in deep purple and golds beads. She chose a simple brown cropped tee that showed off her slim arms and taught waist. While it wasn't glued to her, it was flattering and fun. She clipped some of the naturally wavy fringes of hair behind her ear giving her a very tropical look, perfect for the still warm weather of September. Adding some gold and purple bangles to her wrists, she bounced to the common room.

However, she was not in fact the first down that morning. Sirius had also been furiously pacing worried about his friend "date" with the transfer. He knew it was only a ploy to get to Lily, but he didn't trust the girl any more than he trusted Snape. The only difference was he was nice to the girl.

Hearing a ruffling, he looked up and his breath caught in his throat. Artemis Potter glided down the stairs looking like an absolute Goddess. That was the other problem Sirius has with her. He couldn't trust her, but his animalistic instincts seemed to want to cave to her sinful charms. Not that Sirius was deprived of women, just that he was not accustomed to seeing someone so exotically beautiful as she.

"So, looks like you really dolled yourself up for James. You don't really have any shame do you?" He hadn't meant to be mean, but he couldn't stop the bitterness coming out of his mouth.

"Thank you, you look nice as well. Got a date?" Smirked Artemis. She wasn't biting. Today was much too great a day to let anyone ruin it for her.

Rolling his eyes in frustration, he added, "Look, you know how James feels about Lily, and how Lily feels about James. I'm just doing you a favor by telling you that nothing will come of this."

"Oh I beg to differ. I think a LOT will come of this. Besides, if they're so meant to be, then it won't matter what I do right?" She didn't mean to provoke him, but her patience was already at the limit with the four Marauders. She made to move past him, but he grabbed her arm toppling them both off balance and landing them in a rather compromising position on the couch. "What do you think you're doing?" Snapped Artemis.

"Listen, Lily really likes James, she's just too proud to admit it. You... you could really make a man..." Unable to now look her in the face, he averted his gaze a little lower. Unfortunately the close proximity between them meant that now he was starring at her neck, and her delicate shoulder blades.

A slight blush creeped up her cheeks as she realized where his eyes were traveling. Shoving him off, she stood gracefully. "Make a man what?" She challenged.

Before Sirius could react, James bounded down the stairs and flung an arm around Artemis' shoulders.

_Well, this isn't awkward at all_, though Artemis. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Whenever you are." She smiled at him. Then they left through the portrait hole leaving a very upset Sirius Black alone in the process. Or alone til he was joined by Lily, Alice, and Margo.

"Unbelievable. She has the _least_ consideration about the way she looks in real life, then James asks her out and all of a sudden she's dressing nice, putting on make up, and being all flirty," fumed Alice.

"Look, whatever, i don't really care either way." Stated Lily. But the other three didn't really believe her in any case.

"I'm actually disappointed. I thought she was awesome back in Transfiguration when she stood up for me. Maybe we've been judging her a little to harshly." It was Margo who spoke up this time round.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry Margo, I didn't mean to scoff and mock you. But hey, I mean, it is a Hogsmeade weekend..."

"No thanks Sirius, I think I pretty much got over you when you opened your big mouth." Stated Margo flatly, while the other two stifled their laughter. "But back to Artemis. I know we don't know much about her, other than the fact that she's from Durmstrang."

"That's all I need to know. She can't be trusted." Stated Sirius.

"Hold on... I mean, aren't you curious? She doesn't seem like a bad person. We're only suspicious of her because she doesn't want to spill her guts to us. And well, if something traumatic had happened to me to cause the kind of crazy nightmares she's been having... I wouldn't want to talk about it either." Concluded Margo. "I feel bad. Like we're pushing her into a corner."

"Wait, having nightmares? As in recently?" Asked Lily.

"Yeah. Sometimes, I have to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and she's in bed tossing and turning. We just don't hear her because she casts silencing wards around her curtains to keep the noise out."

"I guess we've been a little bit off with her. I just wanted her to open up to us, so I was a bit insulted when she didn't." Stated Alice.

"I'm not convinced." Said Sirius. "I don't think we have enough information to just wave it off as her being a victim of something. I think we need to be on our guard."

"Well whatever, we'll be on guard tomorrow. I have a date with my _amazing_ boyfriend!" Alice's eyes lit up and as she ran to Frank and kissed him full on the mouth. "Bye guys."

Waving Frank and Alice made their way out of the portrait hole and towards Hogsmeade.

"I have to go too. Marcy from Ravenclaw wants me to help her pick out a costume for the Halloween Ball."

"That isn't for AGES! You girls are ridiculous," stated Sirius.

"Just her," laughed Lily. With that Margo took off and Lily and Sirius were left alone.

"So you're not worried about James being with Artemis at all?" Asked Sirius with a raised eyebrow.

"No," she said a little to forcefully. "Why should I be?"

"Well good then. You and I we're going to Hogsmeade."

"Doesn't hitting on your mate's girl go against the best friend code or something?" Asked Lily, incredulous that he even had the gal to ask.

"Oh? I wasn't aware you were his girl?" Laughing at her flabbergasted expression, he grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the portrait hole. "Besides, you and I, we're spying on them. Doing recon doesn't go against any best friend code."

"Yea, except the one about privacy."

"I share everything with the guy. A little intrusion of privacy won't matter." Smirked Sirius. And if he knew James well enough, he'd want Lily to do all the spying just to get her all riled up. Sirius was going to help the process along a bit and with any luck, Artemis would go back to being the outsider that she was.

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Artemis was walking along Hogsmeade with James. But it wasn't her time with him that was captivating her. It was the beauty of an untouched Hogsmeade. It was like being there for the very first time.

When Voldemort had first claimed Hogwarts, Hogsmeade had been destroyed and "resurrected" as a home for the lower Death Eater community.

But now, shops were open, Zonko's Joke Shop stood tall and proud. There were no Dementors and most importantly, brightly colored witches and wizards populated the place filling it with laughter.

"Let's go in there!" Exclaimed Artemis as they closed in on Honeydukes.

"What Durmstrang didn't have any sweet shops?" Asked James.

"Not like these," she said, helping herself to some pumpkin cakes. After getting their shares of sweet respectively, and easily eating two thirds of their shopping the two made their way to the meadow near the Shrieking Shack.

"Damn, you can really put away that food, huh?" Asked James. It was rare to find someone who could eat as much as he did. "But I've never really seen you eat that much at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In fact, I barely see you eat."

"I have a soft spot for really good sweets. And I try not to pig out ALL the time. Gatta keep that figure in check." The truth was, Artemis did love to eat. Harry's death had taken it's toll on her. But strolling around Hogsmeade with her father and seeing the way that Hogsmeade used to be like had lifted her spirits incredibly, and she hadn't realize how hungry she had actually been.

The two sat in the grass and looked out to the village. "So, lets cut to the chase, shall we?" Smiled Artemis. "You didn't ask me out because you enjoyed my company. So then why?"

"Don't sell yourself short. What makes you think I'm not interested in you?" Smirked James. Somewhere under James' invisibility cloak, Sirius and Lily were getting more and more restless as they eavesdropped into the conversation.

"Oh I know you're interested in me," said Artemis. Lily snorted. She was just as cocky as James was. "You're just not interested in me like _that." Because me sitting here otherwise, would be just disturbingly wrong_, she secretly thought to herself.

Sitting up straighter he thought contemplatively for a moment. "If you knew I wasn't interested in you like that, then why did you come? Are you smitten by me and my stunning good looks?"

This time both Lily, Sirius, and Artemis snorted in disbelief. "You don't like me. I get it. What I want to know is why."

"You never went to Durmstrang."

Artemis saw this coming. She just didn't realize the confrontation would happen so soon. "No, I didn't," she stated simply.

"Then where did you come from?"

"None of you business."

"You're rooming with the love of my life, I think it's a little bit my business." This sent Lily's face on fire.

Artemis looked up to the sky and closed her eyes. She wanted to put her fathers worries to ease. But she knew it wouldn't be possible without giving away everything. "Don't worry," she said after a moment, in a softer voice. "I will not hurt Lily. Not now. Not ever."

"Right, and I'm just going to believe you like that," Said James. "Make the wizards oath then. If your serious."

"Why go so far for her James?" Asked Artemis. She wanted to know what her mother meant to her father. She wanted to know how deep his love for her ran.

"Lily - she's different. I can't explain it. But when I see her face, whether it be angry, smiling, happy, sad, I feel like the whole world is good. She's my energy and my life support. Her presence is all I need to survive. Her kindness is overwhelming and she always tries to do the right thing. Mind, she gets hurt a lot because of it, but the fact of the matter is that she's perfect. I'm not good enough for her. And I love her, and as much as I chase her, I'm not confident at all. So I guess I'll just settle for protecting her."

Artemis was saved from an answer when Lily ripped off the cloak and faced a very embarrassed James.

"You IDIOT! Absolute _idiot_! I thought you were just messing around as usual. I didn't know... that you cared so much." She cursed, through tears.

"Lily!" James said scrambling up.

The two didn't need words to communicate after that. Their bodies melded together as the two held onto each other tightly. Lily holding on through tears and James looking like he could die any moment now and die a happy man. Slowly, their noses touched, and their lips brushed. Slowly, they kissed, oblivious to the audience.

It was only Sirius, still hidden under his invisibility cloak, that he noticed the calm and serene smile that played on her lips. Slowly, she turned, and left the new couple to enjoy themselves.

She walked down Hogsmeade and into a rather empty alley. Tears fell from her face as she continued to walk. _I was born from their love_, she thought to herself. _And they died for the love they had for us_, she thought. She felt happy that she'd been able to witness the love her parents had for each other. But that feeling was overcome with guilt. The guilt of their deaths being her and Harry's fault. The guilt that she had the means to stop it, but would not be able to. Their deaths weighed in her heart like a block of lead. It dragged her into despair. How could a couple so in love, so innocent and untainted with violence become so deeply involved. Why would anyone want to hurt such beauty?

Slowly Sirius followed Artemis, watching her dry tears, the expression of serenity was now muddled with pain. He just didn't understand her. Why was she so confusing. How many things could a person possibly feel? It was ridiculous!

She made her way back to Hogwarts and walked along the edge of the forbidden forest. Sirius followed her in all the while thinking _what is this girl's fascination with the stupid forest!_ She made it pretty far in and he what he saw made his heart stop.

Artemis, not knowing she was being watched, knelt in front of Harry's grave.

She conjured a bouquet and lay it gently on the grave. "Harry," she whispered. The grief was like a tidal wave crushing every aspect of her. But she was not a cry baby. She wasn't about to start being one now.

Deciding he'd had enough of the snooping, Sirius decided to give the girl some privacy and stepped backwards. Unfortunately, the slight movement alerted Artemis to an intruder, and her sharp reflexes were all it took to have him sent flying backwards, a branch circling his wrists and torso, immobilizing him.

"Sirius... _what_ are you doing here? Don't you think you're being a little rude?"

"You're one to talk! Who does the grave belong to?" Fired Sirius. Unfortunately for Artemis, Sirius was too strong to be held by the branches and broke free. Grabbing his wand, a spark of blue shot out form one end, and a countering purple from Artemis' end. Wands drawn, the two faced each other, both fuming, neither quite sure why.

"Attacking a TA isn't going to get you those grades you want." Said Artemis sarcastically.

"Just answer the stupid question!" Snarled Sirius.

She lowered her wand, knowing that he would not hurt her if she posed him no threat. How she would explain this, she didn't know.

But it was Sirius who spoke this time round, not her. "I know you're not from Durmstrang. I heard you. And... I've seen you. When you first just popped up out of no where. I don't buy whatever bull you've been feeding everybody else."

Her eyes grew wide, and she knew this time she would have to offer some sort of an explanation.

She turned around from him and kneeled at the foot of the grave. "This grave... it belongs to my brother. My twin brother."

Sirius' breath caught in his throat as he listened, not wanting to interrupt her.

"Sirius, I'm a fairly powerful witch, don't you think?"

He paused for a moment and remembered all the times that she had proven herself to be more than the regular witch. "Yes you are. I still get goosebumps sometimes thinking about... anyway." He lamely ended, thinking back to the werewolf incident.

"Then tell me, Sirius. What is stopping me from erasing your memory. And I could do it mind - cast an incredibly powerful memory charm to remove all the doubts you have of me. You've followed me all alone. I know for a fact, I could take you in a duel, especially now that I'm on my guard. So why don't I?"

She almost laughed at the dumb look that came over Sirius' face. To be fair, it was a rather good question. And it seemed Sirius himself was stumped for an answer. "I don't know." He said curtly.

"Because, Sirius... you may not trust me. But I trust you. You come from an long line of wizards who have supported the ridiculous notions of Voldemort." Sirius flinched when he her say his name. She'd forgotten it's effect on people. Continuing she said, "Even though you've come from this line of witches and wizards who treat house elves like crap and behead them when they get too old... _you_ Sirius. _You_ are so different. And it takes a lot to go against everything you know and have been taught. So I know no matter who I am, you will do the right thing. And regardless of what that is and however ti impacts me, I can live with it."

Sirius looked to the ground. He didn't know what to say. How did she know so much about his family? It didn't make sense. And even though she knew he cold hurt her, she left it up to him. Because she trusted him? How? And why couldn't he trust her?

He kneeled beside her and really looked at her. This time, not as a piece of flesh he couldn't wait to get his hands on, but as another human being. And it was this time that he noticed the little subtleties in her. She was slim, but was definitely in shape. Her face smiled at him, but those eyes were what bothered him. The were a startling green and reminded him of someone - who he just wasn't sure. But those eyes... they were holding back a dam of tears that she refused to let fall.

But before he could feel too sorry for her, he had to ask, "Tell me about your brother. Why is he buried in this forest? How and when did he die?" He almost dreaded listening to the answer.

Artemis' face dropped. She looked at him pleading him not to ask with her eyes. But it was too late. She was responsible for Harry's death. For failing to protect the one thing that actually mattered in her life. She would not hide behind Voldemort's excuse.

"I killed him." She said, her expression downcast. "I killed him, and then buried him here." Then she did what she always did when she could face the people around around her. She ran.

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**BAHAHA I'm evil aren't I? =P lol. I thought I should end at least one of my chapters with a cliff hanger. Normally, I don't but... well. Change is important =)**


	9. The Runaway

**Yay! Yet another chapter is COMPLETED! Woohooo! I hope you all enjoy it! It's a little shorter, okay a LOT shorter than normal, but I think it packs a punch. Anyhow, on account of a massive essay and an even eviler exam, I don't think I'll be able to update til NEXT Wednesday. But not to worry, I have the plans in place for the next few chapters, so they should be pretty regular afterwards =D.**

**And I just wanted to say thank you to all my reviewers, **Pixiestixz_, _**thank you for letting me know you liked the story. **Tessia**, I swear, everytime I read you comments, they genuinely make my day! I think you'll like the next few chapters, because there will start to be a focus on the romance aspect as well. **Bookits,** you made me LAUGH soooo hard when I read your review! And your SOO right! She is a an idiot :P. Lucky for her, she's got someone to show her how much of an idiot she is ;) **

**Anyway! Withoug much ado... THE MAIN EVENT!**

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Sirius stayed in that forest for a good measure of time and only when the sun had set and the cold of the night set in did he return to the castle. His mind was churning with this new information the whole way. She was a dark witch. He was numb with shock. This whole time, they had been so close to a killer. He didn't quite feel rage, but rather a sick feeling. The feeling and apprehension that one gets when they knew too much information that they didn't know quite what to do with. It took a real sick person to kill their own family. He hated Regalus for being such a coward, but he would never wish death upon him. Then why did he feel sorry for her? What was that awful expression on her face? Was she sorry? _It's too late for that now!_ He thought furiously.

Slowly he made his way up the common room. Opening the portrait hole, it was Alice who first greeted him with a smile. "GUESS WAT!" She exclaimed. "Lily and James FINALLY became an item!" She squealed as if seeing them together was the one thing she lived for.

"Alice! Stop embarrassing me!" Blushed Lily.

"Oh no, embarrass all you want Alice, Lily looks so cute when her face is all red," smirked James, who then received a smack on the shoulder by his feisty red head.

"That's wonderful!" Sirius tried to sound happy, but the truth was, he'd already gone through the elation of seeing his best friend with the love of his life and now it was just curbed by Artemis.

"I know! Believe me James, no one thought this day would ever come" chimed in Remus.

"Finally, he does something right," chuckled Sirius.

"They look too cute together," piped in Peter with a wide grin.

After a while, when the noise had died down a little and Sirius got tired of faking a smile, he disappeared into the boys. Try as he might, he couldn't get any sleep.

Finally once Remus and Peter were asleep, James scuttled over to Sirius' bed. "Hey! Are you awake?"

"Nope. Deep asleep. Can't you see?"

"Funny, I remember this conversation from somewhere," retorted James. "So what did you find out about Artemis?"

At this Sirius sat up and rubbed his temples. He wasn't sure what to do with the information he'd learned today. But James was his best friend, and if anyone knew what to do it would be him.

"I knew there was something off about her," spat James. "Why would she tell you this then?" He asked.

"I've been trying to work the same thing out for myself. Besides, she doesn't seem to fit the bill for a psychotic sister. You know? I could see her being the overprotective sister, the nagger, the emotionally detached, Bellatrix type, but the psycho killer sister... not really. Besides, what about her parents? How'd she explain their son's death to them? And better yet, how'd she get Dumbledore to just look the other way? He _must _know about this, he doesn't just let anyone who wants into Hogwarts in, right?" Mused Sirius.

"Yeah. But she is a ridiculously powerful witch. She could have fooled him..."

"Yeah, but she's a terrible liar, I mean she virtually just confessed everything to me," Sirius said.

"Well then that tells us three things. The first is that she's a bad liar, secondly, she's got a conscience, because it was clearly guilt that drove her to telling you, and finally, we know that Dumbledore knows what's going on because he can see through a good lie so he should have no problem seeing through a bad one. Which leads me to believe that there's more going on."

"Check the map. If she's in Hogwarts, we need to find her-"

James and Sirius searched the paper. "Harry, that's her brother's name," said James sadly. "It's on the map," he pointed out.

"There!"

"She's going into the Shrieking Shack. How does she-"

"Whatever! We have to follow her!" Exclaimed Sirius.

Hurriedly, they put on a pair of casual jeans and darks shirt and got ready to follow the girl.

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Artemis looked back at Hogwarts. It seemed that she didn't have a place there anymore. Not in her time and definitely not in the past. She had rushed to the girls dormitory and shoved everything she had, which wasn't much considering she'd been "traveling" light, into a small duffle bag. _This was such a bad idea,_ she thought. _I've interfered too much, here. I shouldn't have tried to get too close. I'd have ended up hurting myself anyway! I'd have gone home to find a future where they aren't. The more I get involved, the more vulnerable I become._ _And the more I end up spilling my secrets._

She wasn't going to let the future happen. She would bide her time in seclusion and wait until the day Dumbledore was supposed to die. _All I have to do to fix this is, is go back to our original plan. Who cares if it's 20 odd years in the future. I just have to stay alive until then, bide my time, and then do what I came here to do._ If she was helpless to do anything 20 years ago, she would just wait until the right time. In the meantime, she was going to develop the potion. This time, to send her forward through time, but not all the way. Obviously, the trick lay in somehow reversing the polarity of the original potion and then adding the correct amount of sands. _Shouldn't be too difficult, _she thought. _Might take me a while, but even if it takes me a year or two, it'd be worth it._

Now Artemis had a plan. She was getting somewhere, she was doing something. So what if it hurt to leave the people she'd never get another chance with. What if Sirius knew that she was a killer. The thought of being a disappointment to her family killed her, but she could make it right. She could stake everything she had to make sure she didn't fail to protect Harry a second time round. The whole world depended on his survival. He would always be more important than she ever could be. There was no room for screwing up.

She knew where she was going. She would live in the mountains. Wizards would stay out of her way because the place was a well known hide out for giants. Muggles, she could always confund and send on their way. She knew it was a little risky, but it would have to a risk she'd need to take. She could risk interacting with people of this time anymore.

She turned one of the corners and saw something she just knew would make her eat her words.

She reached above her and grabbed the edge of the roof to a small house. She hoisted herself up and leaped into a window sill on the other side. She was on the second floor of a dark building. Her dark turtleneck and black pants blended her in nicely with the rest of the dark decor. She tip toed down a stair well and peaked through the door. Leaving it slightly ajar, she heard muffled voices telling her that the stunning spells of James and Sirius had finally worn off and that the dark hooded, masked men would be starting their interrogation process anytime soon. She'd have to patiently wait for an opening and save them when she could. Because at this rate, they'd probably die.

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Sirius and James had emerged from the Shrieking shack and wildly looked around. However, all they seemed to find was an empty street.

In about a half hour, it seemed they had been through all of Hogsmeade with no luck of finding the little vixen. James was pissed, while Sirius was secretly impressed by her ability to hide. It was bound to come in handy right?

It was only when they had reached Gillywater Street that they spotted what seemed to be trouble.

"What are they-" started James.

"Dunno, but I don't reckon it's good." Finished Sirius, looking at the figures in black. Clearly they were Death Eaters. What they were doing in Hogsmeade was a mystery to the two boys.

"Well, we can't just leave! What if they're planning something?" Asked James.

"Good idea, you stick around and tail em, I'll go get help."

"Oh really? Very funny, you stay, I'll go get help."

"Fine we do rock paper scissors,"

"Deal!"

A quick game of rock, paper, scissors decided Sirius as victorious warranting him the powers of decision making. Sirius decided he would stay and tail the Death Eaters, and James would get help (As if Sirius would ever let James stay in the line of danger while he ran off!). James was apparently thinking the same thing because he had refused to leave. Unfortunately for the two boys, in the midst of their bickering, they didn't notice the Death Eater sneaking up behind them.

"Stupefy!" Chanted a rather deep voice. The last thing they saw was a hooded figure crouching over their bodies manhandling them into a tall building and a little black figure jumping stealthily onto the roof. When they woke, they were gagged and bound, staring into the cold blue eyes, just barely visible behind the DE's mask. Who it belonged to, they did not know, all they were sure of was that perhaps this night, would be their last. _And just when I finally manage to bag Lily_, though James bitterly.


	10. Rescue Mission

**Hello friends =)**

**Okay, I know... big exam... must study BUT IT WAS TOO BORING T_T! so i produced another chapter =) **

**And I see I have more reviews XD! - the face of happiness :D A big thank you to **Lissa rain, CarlieCC, Mogseltof, Pixiestixz, Tessia, and Siiriuslove57 **for your AWESOME reviews :D They were very encouraging and honestly, it really makes me want to hurry up with each chapter so that there is some continuity ^_^. **

**Well, I have nothing else to say today, but I think this will be a fairly... dramatic chapter. ENJOY!**

Quietly, Artemis snuck out of the stair well and away from the hall way. All she need were some robes. Blend in and all. Hiding in a corner in yet another hallway, it was her good luck that she spotted young Bellatrix Black walking to greet her cousin. As she passed, Artemis pulled her into the hall way and cast a powerful stunning charm. Once Bellatrix had been taken out, she cast a silencing charm, bound and gaged her, leaving her wand on the high shelf so she wouldn't be able to reach it (still can't change the future, she though miserably). Praying that no one would come, she quickly undressed the young DE and put on her robes over her own outfit. She took off the mask and placed it over her face doing a complete double take over the immensely younger witch. _Bellatrix?_ Thought Artemis. She was shocked by how young and beautiful she looked. Her hair was still curly and crazy, but it was luscious and vivacious. Her eyes though dark were outlined with dark khol and her skin utterly flawless and healthy. Azkaban had not done anything for her. Now Artemis was convinced everyone in Black family must've been incredibly good looking because she truly looked like a female version of Sirius, proud, aristocratic, and definitely a beauty. It really was too bad she didn't have any of Sirius' characteristics.

Standing up and out of the hallway, she was ready. It was time to clean up the mess she had partially caused.

Sirius watched as James twitched on the floor under the influence of the Cruciatus curse and the Silencing charm to keep his screams quiet. He didn't know what was worse, that he was in pain, or that he couldn't even scream to let it out.

"LET HIM GO! I told you, we don't know anything!" Sirius could feel the panic creeping up his back. "We were just looking for our friend! STOP! You're going to _kill_ him!"

Finally the Death Eater decided to end the kid's misery. James lay still on the floor, his eyes wide, brows furrowed, clutching his chest and panting. He'd felt as though fire was coursing through his body and that every fiber was being burnt to the ground. He was so happy the pain had stopped he didn't even register that they were still pretty screwed.

"S..iri..us..." whispered James when the silencing charm had lifted.

"Shh, don't talk," he replied, kindly. Sirius didn't really care if he was the one being tortured, but seeing his friend go through this was the real torture. He realized they were in over their heads. No one knew where they were, the weren't even on Hogwarts' grounds, and for all anyone knew, they were off being the pranksters they'd built themselves up to be. They were going to die and for what? To find some girl who'd kill her own brother!

He looked down miserably at James and realized for the first time how dangerous this game was. They'd always wanted to be Aurors, but it was more the status, pride, and adventure, than wanting to do the right thing. _How could I have forgotten that we're in the middle of a war?_ He thought bitterly.

Suddenly, a bright light hit him and he was thrown backwards with a strong force, knocking the wind out of him.

"Hello_ brother_," sneered a voice hovering over him.

"Regalus!" Spat Sirius in return. "I didn't know _He _was recruiting children."

"Watch your tongue! At home, it was always Sirius this and Sirius that. What a disappointment _you_ turned out to be. But not anymore. I have a family, I have love, and I have power. Your just some chump whose going to have the crap beat out of you. I can't wait to see your smug face when _that _happens."

"Wh..a...t did you do... to.. piss him off?" Asked James between breaths.

"I was born a year older. And handsomer," smirked Sirius. Leave it to them to be making jokes til the very end.

The humor was short lived, and this time it was Sirius who was under the Cruciatus curse, howling in pain. However, the person at the other end was not his brother, it was another hooded and masked Death Eater, this time a female.

"Well, I couldn't have you soiling your hands now, dear Regalus, can I?" She cooed. "Your underage and your wand is still being tracked. Use an unforgivable and you'll be useless to our Lord."

"Who the hell are you?" He demanded as he turned his wand to her. "I wasn't aware anyone else was joining us on the mission."

"Who the Dark Lord choses to keep informed is his business." She replied simply. "Doesn't that sound just make your blood kick with excitement?"

Sirius was sure she was grinning under that mask. _But I know that voice! _He thought. _Artemis?_ He was almost sure it was her. _She a Death Eater,_ he thought miserably. _Of course she was. _And then it hit him! That debate in their DADA class! What if that was her and her brother she was talking about? What if it was her brother, Harry, who had turned to the good side. And then she killed him! Now it made perfect sense! Of course, in the circumstances, it could have been the other way around too, but the boys were too busy trying to antagonize her to explore that option.

"James," Sirius whispered in a quiet voice.

"I know what your thinking," replied James quietly.

"It makes sense."

"She's our age, _how_ could she have landed up in this mess? She's just a kid. Like us!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH WHISPERING!" Roared Regalus.

Artemis put her hand on Regalus' shoulders. "That'll do," she said to him. "You have a job to do don't you? Leave them to me. I promise, I'll take real good care of them... especially your older brother here."

"Whatever," he whipped around and headed back towards the rest of the Death Eaters.

Once he'd left, silence fell over the three as she removed her mask. She quickly walked over to James, who in his panic decided it was time to run his mouth.

"You're a bitch!" Spat James. He'd never been so disgusted in anyone his _whole_ life. "We tried to understand you, gave you the benefit of the doubt, didn't even rat you out when we found out what you did. We actually decided to go after your disgusting ass, and you used an _unforgivable_ on Sirius? I don't understand how someone could be so - _what_ are you doing?" He asked struggling against her.

"She's untying you James," Said Sirius. He didn't mean to sound so nonchalant, but thats how it came off.

Once she was done with Sirius' binds, she moved quietly to the door. She pulled out another robe and mask. She gave that pair to James. Quickly slipping out of her own robes and grabbing the mask she had removed from her face she handed those to Sirius.

"Put these on," she said simply, looking over her shoulders. "Just walk calmly and proudly. Do not speak unless spoken to. Take a right, left, left, and then right again. You'll see a side exit. Once you're out, make sure you remove those robes and then go straight back to Hogwarts and inform Dumbledore that this is a DE base."

She turned around and was walking out of the hall when the two boys caught up with her.

"Where are you going?" They asked now perplexed. "How do you think you'll be able to get out dressed in that?" Asked Sirius now getting a better look at her.

She smiled softly. It wasn't a smirk, but a gentle smile. _They care..._ she thought. "Don't worry, I'm good at getting myself out of these situations." She said thinking back to all the "sticky" things Harry and her had managed to get out of. Except this time, it would be different. Harry wasn't with her to back her up and she'd be alone. She paused. "This will probably be the last time I see you two for a while. Take care of each other. Pay attention in class, and James, don't give Lily a hard time. And Sirius, I'm sorry about the Cruciatus. If I hadn't Regalus would have. He still has potential for better things."

"Wait! Why do you sound like you're about to go to your death!" Demanded Sirius. "We get it okay! We know your not evil, like we thought you were. But you keep saying one thing and doing another. We just didn't know what to believe."

"Believe what you will. It's irrelevant now. We have to go, and this is not the time or place to talk about it." She proceeded to exit the hall, turned the corner and was gone before the boys could say anything.

"James," said Sirius his eyes focused. "I have to-"

"I'll be okay. Do what you have to do." After another moment he asked. "So have you found your Lily?"

"I don't know. But I can't seem to leave her alone. You know the feeling right?"

"Yeah."

With that, they two boys took off in opposite directions. One chasing the woman he knew virtually nothing about but felt more strongly about than any other woman he'd dated; the other leaving the safe way to get help.

Artemis stealthily pressed her body against the wall and tried to blend into the darkness. She's cast a general disillusionment charm but knew it wouldn't do any good in the presence of any good Occlumens (her skills were just as bad as Harry's) or if someone managed to stare at her from point blank range. Suddenly, a large horn sounded alerting the rest of the Death Eaters to intruders. _Damn Bellatrix and her boyfriend must've gotten free, _she thought. She would have to hurry. She ran lightly through the hallway and was met with a a hooded figure. Catching him of guard she placed a well aimed kick to his groin.

"Aurgh!" He groaned in pain as he slumped down.

"Oops. Think of it this way, not having offspring could be your very own contribution to the world."

"Dammit Artemis!" She stopped dead in her tracks. _Ohhhh shit!_ She thought rolling her eyes and internally.

"_Sirius?"_ She rushed back to the moaning figure she'd just kicked. She undid her disillusionment charm and took pulled the mask off his face. Sure enough, "_Are you crazy? WHAT are you doing here?" _She whispered venomously.

"Oh yes, I'm totally fine. Even though _I'll_ probably never have kids thank to you, no worries, I'm sure I can get my git of a brother to reproduce for me!"

She looked at him incredulous that he was in the mood for sarcasm. "_You _were supposed to be escaping with James! Remember _that _plan?"

"You couldn't have just stuck to an old fashioned jinx!"

"_You _couldn't have just listened for once in your life!"

"Well _yooouu_ are the one trying to get yourself kill-"

"_Shut up!" _She interrupted placing a hand over his mouth. "There was a _reason_ I didn't want you escaping with me. All your going to do is slow me down. I can handle getting out of here alone, with you, I'm not so sure." She knew she was making him feel bad, but she was so furious! How could he just leave James alone, what if he needed help! Clearly, she could take care of herself. Unless... unless he thought... "I wasn't going to try and get myself offed. Believe it or not, I'm just good at taking care of myself."

"Could've fooled me." After a moment, "That story in DADA. You're brother was a Death Eater wasn't he? You were both Death Eaters and then you defected. He tried to kill you so you killed him first."

This time she turned fully to look at him. "HAH ?_?" She nearly laughed out loud with all the crazy conclusions he's managed to come up with. Chuckling, she said, "_That _was just a story to get you brats thinking. Both my brother and I... we never joined the dark side. He was good. Always." She ended uneasily.

For the second time today Sirius was embarrassed about jumping to the wrong conclusion.

The continued down a maze of hallways jinxing Death Eaters in their way as they were caught off guard. Finally they reached the exit and bursted out of the doors.

"Well that was uneventful," Stated Sirius. No sooner had the words left his lips then a resounding BOOM shook his bones. He opened his eyes slowly fully expecting to see at least a few parts of his body lying somewhere unattached to him. Instead he saw Artemis Potter, wand drawn, and the after image of the powerful Shield charm she'd cast.

Eyes wide, he drew his own wand and looked around.

From the group of three DEs that surrounded him, out stepped young Bellatrix Black. "You thought that you could just waltz in here and bust out without a hitch? The second I saw my cousin tailing you, I knew you wouldn't be leaving the way you came in. This was the only other way. Thank you Sirius. Aunty Ellen will be so proud to know you've help the Dark Lord's cause," she taunted.

"Shut up!" Yelled Black. But it wasn't any use. He had slowed her down, just like she said he would. They were in this position because of him.

"Sirius," said Artemis calmly. "You're a real pain in the arse, but we both know you're no slouch in DADA. We'll be okay."

He certainly didn't _feel_ okay, but when Artemis said it, the knot in his stomach seemed to loosen a little.

"NOW!" She yelled! And the scene burst into action, light, and color. Artemis sent a powerful nonverbal spell flying towards Bellatrix, in process grabbing Sirius and ducking behind the dumpster. "You take those two, and I'll handle the happy couple," she said referring to Bellatrix and Lestrange.

Flashes of red and blue streamed to the night air. "Impedimenta!" She heard Sirius yell.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" Yelled Artemis. "Say it like you mean it!" She coached.

"HEY! Don't ignore me bitch!" Roared Lestrange.

She cast another protection charm. Side stepping another spell, she sprang forward cast a well aimed "_Petrificul Totalus!" _effectively immobilizing Bellatrix. Stepping forward, she punched her square in the nose breaking it with a sickening crack causing her to pass out.

Quickly turning to see how Sirius was faring, it was clear that she needed to hurry and take of Lestrange. Two adults against an inexperienced teenager wasn't exactly a fair fight. She was impressed he was managing to defend so long, but they both knew all the was doing was running. He hadn't managed to hit them once.

Muttering under her breath, a burst of fire erupted from her wand. She directed the whirling flames towards Lestrange who jumped back to avoid the heat. That was all she needed. While his eyes were still locked onto the residual flames of the wand, he didn't even see the very simple, yet effective stunner hit him square in the chest.

Her agile body weaved past the harmless Death Eaters and towards Sirius. She reached him just in the nick of time. He'd managed to disarm one the DEs but didn't see the other behind.

_Crap! _She thought the same time she heard the words "Imperio" come out of his mouth. Before the spell could hit Sirius, she jumped in front of the curse and took it in. Immediately, her mind went blank and she felt a soothing feeling. But the feeling was short lived as she forced herself back to reality.

"Don't bother," She gloated looking at the shocked expressions of both the DE and Sirius, who definitely thought they would be done for.

She deflected the spell with ease and then hit him with a stunner. Once he was passed out, she obliviated him.

Suddenly a grey cloud erupted out of nowhere and when it cleared, the unconscious DEs were no where to be seen.

Exhaling, Artemis leaned back into the brick wall now that the whole ordeal was over.

"Why did you do that?" Asked Sirius after a moment.

"Do what?"

"You know... obliviate him"

"Didn't want him running his mouth about some girl who can throw off the Imperius."

"About that..._ how is that even possible?_ I swear! Everything you do practically defies the laws of nature!" He sounded just as flabbergasted as he looked at her lean figure leaning slightly on the brink wall behind her.

Chuckling, she answered, "Well, I've some practice..." All of a sudden, she was aware of the space around her and noted with a little humility that there wasn't much separating her from Sirius. They continued to look at each other for a moment. Him looking at her amused expression, her at his disbelieving one. The background faded and all they could hear were their heartbeats pounding in their ears - both of which were red. He was only an inch away now - _how had he gotten so close?_ she thought. It mattered not, because the warmth of his body heat was slowly engulfing her as he leaned his arm on the wall behind her head, enjoying the fact that he was a good head taller than she was.

"You know..." he whispered seductively, "you owe me for that God awful kick earlier and the Cruciatus?"

"Oh, saving your life wasn't enough?" She whispered back. Their faces now so close, they could feel each other's breaths on their skin.

"Not one bit." But before he could lean down and do what his instincts had been begging him to do since he first met her - "SIRRIIIUUSSSS!" James burst into the alley way where the two who were sharing a moment a minute ago were now positioned as far as the could get from each other. _Dammit, James! Couldn't have waited another minute could you?_

"Sirius!" But seeing his worried face erased any sense of annoyance he felt in that moment for his best friend. Dumbledore rounded the corner and surveyed the situation before him.

"Artemis," Said Dumbledore. "When I heard there was trouble, I hoped I would find you quite far from it. Nevertheless, I am glad you are safe."

"I would've stayed away... if it wasn't for these two bozos," she replied. And after a moments thought, "And if they weren't out looking for me..." she admitted.

"And why would they be doing that?" He asked, though she was sure he knew.

"I..." She paused for a minute as the reality of her situation came tumbling down. _Thank GOD I didn't kiss him_, she thought shamefully. She looked at Dumbledore with determined eyes. "I have to leave, Professor." It hurt her to say this, but she didn't have a choice.

"Wait! _What?_ You don't have to go anywhere!" Exclaimed Sirius. "Is this because of..."

"NO!" She didn't want Sirius to get the wrong impression. "Professor, you know... you know why I have to leave. I can't be here anymore, it's... too dangerous for me."

"Dangerous?" Echoed James.

"Artemis, you're probably the most dangerous thing at Hogwarts, I think you'll be okay," Joked Sirius. Unfortunately he didn't realize how deep his words cut her.

"Precisely. You nailed it, Sirius. I'm too dangerous. Professor, I know what I'm doing. I _have _to leave. Not forever. I will come back when I am needed."

Dumbledore had remained silent the whole time, now he spoke. "Artemis, I cannot stop you from leaving, but there have been several theories regarding your... special case."

"I came here for a purpose. I _have _to fulfill it. Without messing up in the process. If I do, I could destroy everything. Become trapped in a vicious circle. You have absolutely no idea what's at stake here. This has to be played out correctly otherwise..."

"It seems to me that you are making destiny as you go. But perhaps fate wanted this. You had not intended to come to Hogwarts upon your arrival here had you? But you landed up in the forbidden forest anyway. There is a reason to that. You are meant to be here Artemis. If I believed otherwise, I would have asked you go into seclusion a long time ago. Besides, who would replace Professor Fromby?"

"Replace?"

"Unfortunately his heart gave out a few hours ago. He has made the journey into the next great adventure."

She looked at Dumbledore carefully and saw the brilliant old Professor she admired before her. She wasn't going to be able to say no after all.

"I guess we should go to your office..." she mumbled in defeat.

"Awesome! Looks like there isn't anyone who can resist our devilish charms," Scoffed James

"Yeah yeah, keep talking."

Dumbledore merely smiled, kept his wisdom to himself and the four made their way to castle. Sirius and James were allowed to go up to bed, to a furious Remus whom they hurriedly explaining everything they learnt to.

Meanwhile, Artemis followed Dumbledore to his office and told him how she had come to her initial decision to leave.

"I would like to see your memory."

"What?" She asked in confusion. "

"Selective memories. I would like to see exactly how you killed your brother. How you landed up here. Surely, that is not divulging too much information."

"No it's not," she said simply. She was uneasy about having to live through the experience again, but she hadn't yet grieved. So much had happened that she just didn't have the time to grieve. She picked up her wand and placed it at her temple. Carefully extracting a silver strand of memory, she placed in the penesieve basin that Dumbledore had procured. The two waited a moment for the silvery liquid to settle and then they both dived into the memory.

She saw the old hut that were in and watched as the siblings placed the sands in. Instinctively, she reached to grab Harry, to just be able to touch him once. But her hand went through and she realized the finality in death.

She watched as the DE attack, Voldemort entered the scene and then tried to protect her. Then she saw Harry jump in the way of the Killing Curse and grow cold in her arms. Finally, she saw her self in the forest which is where she chose to end the memory.

They were back in his office. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes, but she would not be a cry baby.

"You didn't kill him Artemis."

"I _knew_ you would say that. But your wrong," and this time she couldn't hold back the sobs. "I _did _kill him. He died to protect _me_. I should have been the one to die, not him. He was younger than I am, you know. Which means it was _my _duty to protect him. I couldn't do my job so as a result he died. Voldemort might have been the one to pull the trigger, but it was me who killed him."

Her voice cracked as she broke down. As she sobbed, she felt lighter. Like her tears were somehow lifting the pain. And they were. Fawkes was sitting on her lap and cry with her. His tears flowed onto her filling the pain with warmth.

"Artemis... listen to me. You did your best. You did not kill your brother. I know what that feels like," he said. "You may be responsible for not protecting him, but you did all you could do under the circumstances. Sometimes tragedies must occur in order for the great to rise. Perhaps you need to accept this and then perhaps you need to come to terms with it. Now about your brother..."

"I buried him in the Forbidden Forest."

"That won't do, I'll have him moved to a more appropriate place."

"Thank you Professor."

"Now take the next day off. You are no longer a student. You will have to resume DADA lessons day after tomorrow." Sleep in, pamper yourself a little, then jump back into work. It's quite late. Or rather, early, if I do say so myself."

Artemis thanked Dumbledore for his kindness and wisdom. Surprisingly, she'd spent a good 5 hours speaking to him. She knew there was a reason why she loved her old headmaster so much, and it was because no matter what, he always had a way of making everything seem better than they were. She trudged back to girls dorm. It was morning now. The girls would be up already. She made her way to the Room of Requirement. She would hide out there until classes started. Would have one of the house elves bring her food, shower, and fade into sleep.

She stepped into the Room of Requirement and what a surprise she did find there. Her face turned beet red and her eyes found a very naked Sirius, propped up on a four poster bed, his rather chiseled abs disappearing into nothing more than a cover. Her embarrassment quickly turned to shock as she saw a very blonde, beautiful, and just as naked woman snoozing beside him, though most of her "assets" covered underneath the _very same_ covers Sirius wore.

"Sorry to interrupt!"

"Arte-" But she didn't hear the rest. Turning around, she slammed the door and made her way quickly to the Astronomy Tower, her chest heavier than usual and her throat somewhat dry.

***Hides while readers throw things at me for make Sirius in to a manwhore :P* But fear not! Where there is a screw up, there is a fix it too ;). TIL NEXT TIME :D**

**And this time i **_**actually**_** won't be able to update til after Wednesday. I should prolly get on studying for that T_T. Anyhow, hope you all enjoyed it :D**


	11. Friends

HEY everyone! Yes I know it's beeen soooooo long since my last update! I got caught up with school and exams. I will be a bit busier (due to work and family and stuff), but I've had some inspiration lately, so hopefully there won't be such a long break before the next update. Now I have to give EVERYONE who reviewed my story such a warm thank you, because it was INCREDIBLE to hear everything you've had to say to me. I know I expressed this in my last Author's note, but I just wanted to thank you all again.

So this next chapter... it's light on the Artemis-Sirius thing. But it sets up something important for the plot so bear with me and have patience while I try to set some stuff up for later =)

Now ONWARDS!

* * *

_What the hell! _Thought Artemis! _Why am I so surprised about this? I KNOW! Because it's only been a few HOURS since we got back to Hogwarts! He could've have DIED and the first thing he goes and does is... ARRGGHH! _She screamed internally.

_Don't be mad at him_, she told herself, calming down a little. _It's not like we even had anything. How does this Sirius turn into the one I respect so much?_ She thought upset.

_Screw it! I don't care who I run into, I'm going to bed!_. Tired of having to sneak around, she changed course from the Astronomy Tower to the dorms. Hoping that none of the girls had decided to miss breakfast, she snuck into the Common Room and up to the girls dormitory. Showering, dressing, and having some fruit to eat, she quite simply passed out on her bed, tired from the excitement of the past two days.

* * *

Sirius didn't even bother chasing after Artemis. _Crap, crap, crap!_ He felt his heart sink into his stomach the second she'd walked in the room. He'd just screwed up big time. She was pissed. But still, a small part of him was pleased remembering her first embarrassed then hurt expression. In some twisted way, he was glad for that. It meant she actually felt something. If she truly didn't care, she wouldn't be so upset.

Getting dressed, he left Pasha, hesitating a little as he looked at the delicate features of the blonde beauty - her creamy skin, full red lips, long eyelashes, and light hair. He felt bad about just leaving her there, but he didn't want to be around when she woke. So he quietly exited the room and shut the door behind him. He hadn't walked 2 minutes when he heard...

"Hey mate!" James yelled down the hall as he saw Sirius walking quickly to the boys dorm.

"Uh, hey James," he responded.

"Alright, what'd you get yourself into this time?" James asked seeing his friends downcast expression. He knew something was off when Sirius never came back from the kitchens.

"Why'd you assume I did something? It's not ALWAYS my fault okay!"

"Sure... so what'd you do?"

Sighing, Sirius proceeded to explain to James exactly what had gone down between him and Pasha and Artemis.

"Okay..." James said after hearing his whole story. "Let me get this straight... You were off to the kitchens and just eating when you ran into Pasha, the blonde from Hufflepuff that you're constantly on and off with?"

"Yes, and we do flings, not proper dating."

"Whatever, and you did this because she just came on to you and after the whole thing with the Death Eaters, you thought 'Aw hell, sometimes I should just enjoy being alive!'"

"Well, that's exactly it, but more or less... yes. I- I was just feeling a little vulnerable then okay? Then Pasha just came at the right moment. You know how it always is with us. I could help it, she's pretty hot and Artemis and I aren't even anything..."

"You sound like you like Artemis, you even went after her in that DE base" James speculated.

"No! You know... heat of the moment... Nothing like that... I mean I hated her, before last night you know... I thought she was a death eater!" Sirius lied.

James was not to be fooled though, "Look Sirius, if you didn't care, then you wouldn't be so upset-"

"I'm not upset."

"Of course not, that's why we're actually discussing this. Admit it, you are upset and it's because Artemis saw you in bed with Pasha."

"Okay maybe I have a little crush."

"There we go, now we're getting somewhere. Now what are you going to do about it. Actually, what are you going to do about Pasha first, then Artemis?'

"I don't know... I like Pasha. She's sunny and happy. I kinda like her no strings attached simpleness... But we've never been serious. Artemis on the other hand, she's a mystery. I just want to unravel her. She's hiding a lot. Maybe we don't need to know the details now, but I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into with that one."

Chuckling, "You're in trouble, mate. Better figure it out fast," said James. With that the two boys proceeded to the dorms and fell asleep.

* * *

The next two days were really very awkward for the group. Artemis was still trying to work up her nerve to speak to Lily, Alice, and Margo and apologize for her rude behavior. But her embarrassment and their cold shoulder effectively had her mouth zipped and sulking at the breakfast table alone. James was finally being nice, but she only saw him when he was with Sirius, and he just got on her nerves.

Even though her social life here had taken a dive, at least she could watch her parents fall in love, and a what pair of love birds they were! Although she still "rejected" James' dotting, she gave in after a few attempts and let him sweet talk her and flirt. And so even though the dynamic had not changed, Artemis could see her mother had softened up and begun to truly care for her future husband.

Finally, getting up from the lunch table she hurried to the library, where she could be found most days, to work on a return home potion. While she didn't _want_ to go home, staying here was starting to get a little tiring. After a while she stretched and decided to walk out her legs when she heard...

"... can't be that bad, I mean, James and I are together now right?" Artemis knew that voice! Lily... and they were talking about her!

_Okay stop eavesdropping!_ The good angel in her head chided. _She's talking about you, you totally have the right to eavesdrop!_ Negated the devil. After a bit of bantering in her mind, she decided if she was going to eavesdrop she might as well pay attention while she was at it!

"Lily, just cause you and James are together that doesn't mean she didn't try to steal James away!" Countered Margo.

_That's it!_ She thought. If she was going to set things right, now was the time to do it. Sucking up her courage, she stepped out of the shadows and said, "I wasn't trying to steal him away. I was trying to figure out what he had against me."

The girl's swiveled around, wide eyed, clearly not accustomed to being caught red handed while gossiping.

"Yeah, then what were you so dressed up about?" Said Margo, who recovered first and quickly went on the defensive.

Artemis could feel her anger rising a little (her fashion sense is really none of anyone's business), but she figured, for the sake of future peace, she'd better be the bigger person. "Look, I hadn't been out in a while... I've been stressed and haven't been feeling so hot. So I figured since it was the one day we got to ditch our uniforms, I could take advantage of it. You know, the whole look good, feel good thing."

"OH! I know EXACTLY what you mean! Sometimes when I'm really down I just go shopping and buy something REALLY cute and then feel all better," smiled Alice. The girl really didn't know how to hold a grudge. Her energy could make the sun jealous.

"Okay, listen... I know I was a little rude to you all when you were only trying to be good friends. But... lets just say things haven't been so great all the time in my life and I'd just rather not speak of it."

"I think you're right, Artemis." Said Lily, who'd been awfully quiet. "There's a reason why you're qualified to TA our DADA course at your young age. Things couldn't always have been pleasant. We're truly sorry we didn't understand your feelings and we're sorry for being such busybodies..."

"I didn't think of that..." Margo said, now looking a little downcast, upset about her previous behavior towards Artemis.

"I'm sorry too," Said Alice.

"Thank you..." Artemis smiled, for the first time in a long time since she'd gotten to school. There was a pin drop silence as the three girls took in the beautiful and radiant expression on her face, realizing that this was perhaps the first time that Artemis was unguarded since her transfer. "So... are we all cool then? We can stop avoiding and tip toeing around each other's backs during breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"

"Yeah, I reckon so!" Said Margo also smiling kindly, now that the misunderstanding had cleared up.

Things were looking great - James was happy with her and Lily and the other two were back on speaking terms with her.

They got up and crowded around her pulling her into a big group hug, knowing that this was a friendship they would not be breaking bonds with so quickly after all.

"QUIET DOWN YOU BAFOONS!" Screeched Madame Pince (Seriously? Way to ruin a tender moment!) nearly kicking them out of the library.

"Now that we're all friends and all... again... I just have one question for you. Don't worry, it's not about the past, it's about the present, and being in the present with us, means you don't get to keep _any_ secrets from us about, well... the present." She ended, kind of lamely.

"Okay Lily," Artemis decided to humor her, rather amused by her mother at this point. She had moved her stuff to sit with them at their table. "What did you want to ask me?"

"WE," said Lily exchanging a meaningful look with the other two, "were wondering what the heck is going on between you and my dear boyfriend's best mate?" Her cheshire grin, full of mischief was identical to the other two's. Artemis's own jaw fallen to the floor and she turned a brilliant shade of red that could compete with Lily's hair any day!

"Th-There's... you... I-Him... There'snothinggoingonbetweenus!" Artemis chocked out rather quickly now fully embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that," smirked Margo, Alice and Lily both snickering in the background.

Taking a deep breath, "Okay... I don't know if word has gotten around yet... but I'm the new DADA professor since Professor Fromby passed away. As such, I cannot be in a relationship with a student, it's HIGHLY unprofessional and... seriously kinky!" _Plus all the other issues they'll never know about_, she secretly thought to herself.

"Hang on... you're the new DADA prof?" Asked Alice, amazing. "Like you'll be teaching the WHOLE course independently?"

"Well, yes... I suppose I am."

"Well, congratulations are in order then!" Said Margo.

"Huh? Thank you," Artemis said bashfully.

"This is what you've always wanted to do right? Teach? Looks like you're dream is unwinding." Smiled Lily.

"I suppose..." Artemis said uncomfortably. _I wish my dreams were that simply_, she couldn't help but think. "But don't get too smug yet, I won't be letting anyone off of homework!" She joked.

"NOOOO!" They all yelled in unison. ("ONE MORE TIME AND YOU'RE ALL OUT!" yelled Madame Pince from between the shelves somewhere)

Grinning to herself and the others, the four girls spent a lovely afternoon chatting and doing their homework, or in the case of Artemis, setting their homework. After dinner, Artemis stayed down late in the common room busy making lesson plans for DADA. TAing was one thing, but Professor Fromby's notes were practically illegible and a lot of the classes were very behind in where they should be. At least according to her standards.

Finally she dozed off in the common room, books open, rocking the bed head look, and definitely still in her robes.

* * *

_The Dark Lord sat upright in a magnificent ebony chair overlooking a hall of dark robed masked Death Eaters. His face was twisted in anger and his snake like eyes penetrated the crowd. _

_"Lestrange... You've disappointed me..." His voice was no more a whisper, but the deadly hiss was more than enough to send everyone's blood in a freeze. _

_"Master, I have no idea what happened. One minute everything was going according to plan, they next the Potter kid and the Black blood traitor were lose in building." He blubbered trying to explain. His face was pale and sickly, he was dreading this moment for the past 24 hours. Rudolphus was in charge of the mission that night, but how that blasted witch had gotten the best of him, he had NO idea. _

_"He's not lying Master. There was a witch. I volunteer myself to kill her, my Lord," breathed Bellatrix. _

_Voldemort lazily flicked his wand in Lestrange's direction and the already pale man's face lost whatever little color it still had. His eyes bulged out of his sockets and his throat closed so that all that came out from his twitching form on the ground was a sickening chocking noise._

_Finally, the torture was done, and his head lolled back, eyes now less stressed. His breathing was hoarse but, he seemed okay. _

_"Bellatrix... bring the rogue mystery witch to me... bring her alive! As for the Potter and Black children, I'll personally deal with them." Finally bringing his teeth, in what few people could appreciate as a smile, he said, "My servants! Why the long faces? This is a party, and we have a guest in our midst."_

_With a wave of his hand, a bloodied figure in dark robes and a Death Eater's mask floated towards him. He traced a thin ghastly finger down her throat and back to her face. Harshly, he ripped the mask off, taking a bit of her golden hair with it. Her face, which may have been beautiful at one point was now disfigured and burned where the mask had been and she whimpered in pain._

_"KILL THE TRAITOR!" Came a loud roar from the hall. "MAKE HER BLEED FIRST!" "DISMEMBER THE SLIMY BLOOD TRAITOR!"_

_Finally, after a few more comments, Voldemort held up his hand. "Let this be an example to those who think they can double cross me! AVADA KEDAVARA!" A green light burst from his wand and the squirming woman became still. Her eyes open and fearful..._

That is when Artemis woke with a start gasping for air trying to forget about the ghastly dream. _What the hell was that? A dream? No. It felt more real_, she reasoned. Then she realized. It wasn't just a dream... it had happened. Somehow, she was in Voldemort's subconscious - here, in the past! _No, no, no, no, no! How could that be true? _She was the twin that hadn't been marked, she didn't have any connection with Voldemort. _This doesn't happen to me. What the hell is going on? Harry was the one who always had these dreams, NOT me! _This of course did not help her as she continued to panic. Finally, she looked around and saw she was still in the common room her robes skewed to one side, books strewn all over the place, and absolutely alone. Thank goodness for that. It was quarter to three and Artemis decided she needed to pull herself together, pack up her books, change her clothes and drift to a real sleep. Walking up the girls dormitory, she put everything away, stripped and crawled into bed with nothing but her underwear on. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow and this time, there was no dream. Just blackness.


	12. Dueling Basics

**Hey everyone! It's been a while, huh? I hope I haven't lost too many of you, but here is the next installment of the chapter. I have a REALLY good reason for not updating soon this time. You'll see as you read on, but I really wanted a certain character to turn out really well, so I had to write and re-write this chapter a few times. Anyway, you guys'll see what I mean at the end of it. Please let me know what you think. R&R!**

**PS. Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed. I love you guys for your honest opinions and it really motivates me to work extra hard and try my best =)**

* * *

The bright sun hit her eyes sharply as she woke the next morning. 10am. She'd missed breakfast. Luckily, she didn't have classes until the afternoon. For some reason, despite the panic now taking hold of her as she recalled her dream from last night, she had slept really well. It was probably the relief of having made up with everyone, because she'd certainly been exhausted before. _Except Sirius_. She thought miserably. She still hadn't been on speaking terms with him. Maybe she ought to loosen up a little. Of course he'd have a girlfriend. A popular heart-throb like him... Besides, she's said it before but it time for her to mean it… Sirius is a teenager, and considering his and her relationship, it's absolutely sick for her to be feeling slighted… right? Miserably, she got up, took a quick shower, pulled her hair into a messy bun and took off to sneak food from the kitchens.

"Hi handsome!" A flirty voice cut across the silence in the corridor. Artemis paused, not knowing if she should turn around and go back or just stay put. Peaking just a little corridor, she gasped as she saw the blonde beauty from before leaning against the doorway of the classroom looking a little too sexy for her own good. Sirius, stood pompously as usual. Artemis didn't want to eavesdrop, but... _dammit what is wrong with me!_

"Pasha... what are you doing here?" She heard him say.

"You've been avoiding me," the blonde stated matter of factly.

"No I haven't. Really, I've been around, just not really around... you..." he ended kind of lamely. Artemis nearly chuckled and gave herself away. Why would he be avoiding his own girlfriend?

"Well, it's not really that I care, but you know... I had an itch and I thought you'd be up for giving it a little scratch." Her wavy blond hair looked ethereal in the sunlight and her expression mightily seductive with those piercing blue eyes, nibbling softly on her bottom lip. She slowly inched forward and placed a light kiss on his lips. _What an annoyingly perfect pair they make_, thought Artemis feeling a little sour. _Screw this, who the heck wants to watch a stupid make out session!_ She thought angrily. I mean, it wasn't that they were intimate that bothered her, just that they were so PDA about it. Right? She hoped that's all it was. Turning around, she went back the way she came and left quietly so as not to disturb the _happy couple. _

Sirius on the other hand, somehow didn't feel the same, as he would have just a few days ago. He gently nudged her away and leaned against the wall with a heavy sigh. His mind was more occupied with Artemis, and that shocked expression she wore. And the cold shoulder she'd been giving him, which made him realize that she indeed cared about him, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself. So what was he going to do with Pasha. Sweet, innocent, carefree, Pasha… he really did like her but…

"Pasha... I..." For the first time, Sirius Black was at a loss for words. How does one turn down _really hot sex?_ God that's never happened to him before, seeing as he'd never felt the need to reject anyone.

She scrutinized him a little and then finally an incomprehensible expression came over her face. "I never thought I'd see the day that Sirius Black turned _me _down," she smirked. "But I guess you've got a reason now right?" She looked almost... _hurt_ for a minute there... but then just when he tried to observe her facial expression a little more, it was gone and he was sure, she didn't really care all too much.

"It's not like that..."

"Of course not." Then she looked at his apprehensive expression and forced out a laugh. It sounded fake, even her own ears, but the blonde only smiled and said, "you better not wait too long, or she might end up with someone else. Girls that catch your attention are bound to be popular with other men."

Winking she hurried away and down a corridor leaving Sirius confused with his own feelings. She'd pretty much ended their series of one-night stands right there and then. But surprisingly, he didn't feel too much pain. In fact, he felt free.

* * *

Artemis stood behind the late Prof. Fromby's old desk. She hadn't been able to go visit his office and the DADA classroom since she'd returned and promised to take over his classes. But today was different. Today, she had taught the first year (relatively easy), the fourth years (a bit tougher, and harder to control), and now patiently waited until her final class for the day filed in - the seventh class. She didn't think she'd find herself in any odder position than this before. This time she'd be teaching them a lesson plan she'd made up and she was incredibly nervous. The other kids it was easy - they were all younger and none of them were Lily, James, Peter, Remus, or Sirius. She was a little more than nervous having to teach the people she respected so much about defense against the dark arts especially when she knew they would soon need to know these things. She wanted to make sure that she did everything she could to teach them everything they'd need to know for the real world, because there was no way in Hell that she could stomach their death if it was due to her incompetency as a professor.

"Alright everyone! Settle down and listen up!" Artemis waited patiently until she had their attention. "Okay, today's going to be a fun lesson," she said with a wide grin. Despite herself, she was starting to get excited. "Now I'm sure you've all had some experience throwing hexes at each other," Sirius and James smirked, while Lily simply rolled her eyes, "Today, I'm going to teach you how to duel. Formally, that is!" Looking around, she could see she had everyone's attention. "Now according to Professor Fromby's notes…. You did a unit on dueling theory in your second year, you were _supposed_ to do some practice with each other in fourth year, but it says there was a disturbance…? Ah, yes, Miss. Perkins?" She pointed to a Slytherin girl with short brown curly hair and blue eyes at the back of the class.

"We were to spend a few classes practicing dueling with each other, but Professor Fromby fell ill, and Professor Dumbledore couldn't find another substitute teacher such short notice. And then by the time the Professor Fromby was well enough again, we had to move on to other topics."

"I see, thank you Miss Perkins. That was helpful. So, I guess you've only learned about dueling in your second year, and that too on a theoretical level. That's okay. I'm not naïve enough to think you haven't all engaged in at least _one_ duel officially or unofficially. We'll be refining some of those skills for the next few lessons. Okay, so everyone stand up, I'm going to clear the floor."

The room buzzed with excitement and Artemis neatly stacked the desks and chairs with a flick of her wand. With another flick of her wand she summoned some medical supplies from her cupboards. She had a feeling she'd need them. "I'm going to pair you up randomly. And on my whistle, you'll bow to each other and begin the duel. You won't be keeping the same partner the whole class, because when I blow my whistle again, the people on the right of the room will rotate to the _left_. Okay? Everyone got that?" Seeing a few nods, she numbered them 1 and 2 and had them face each other.

James was paired with Remus, Lily with Sirius, Peter with Margo, Alice with Frank, and a few others. Even though the Gryffindor's had stuck together, Artemis knew sooner of later they'd have to mingle with the Slytherins. Hopefully, it wouldn't turn out too messy, but she needed to get them out of their comfort zone and introduce a little bit of hostility.

"Now before I begin… I may not look it, but I have eyes in the back of my head okay! Lets set some ground rules. No dark curses. The aim is to immobilize or disarm _only_. If I catch _anyone_, and I mean it, not only will you have detention with me every single day for the next month, but I'll make it so Filch has you scraping dung off the owlery every single night. Just warning you! So if you know what's good for you, you best stick to harmless curses, and if you want to get fancy shoot off fireworks or something, but I won't tolerate dark curses shooting around in this class, got it?"

Slightly taken a back, the class nodded their agreement.

"Good. Alright then," she blew her whistle and watched as everyone bowed and began to duel. This was bound to get messy, she realized. James was doing relative well holding his own against Remus. But Remus's lycanthropy essentially made him a powerhouse. Tearing her eyes away, she found Avery and Snape dueling. Avery was dodging Snape's barrage of expelliarmus until Snape rolled to the side and shot off two consecutive impedimentas, one of which hit Avery square in the chest.

Seeing enough, Artemis blew her whistle, and watched the process commence with the new pairings. Finally, she decided to look at each person and correct him or her individually. For example, she found Lily dropped her guard on the right after each curse she shot off, Alice tended to walk _right_ into curses because she had trouble reading her opponent. Sirius and James were both incredibly skilled, and she really wondered how they'd gotten so good. Though in Sirius's case, she knew exactly why he would need to know how to duel well. In James case, she wasn't so sure. Perhaps hanging out with Sirius. Now observing them both against each other, she found they really did have very similar styles. But while James often ducked a little too soon, giving away his position, Sirius almost always ducked a little too late.

She blew her whistle a few more times and gave the class a few more tips, until a loud _bang_ got her (and the rest of the class') attention. Swiveling, she internally face-palmed herself. _Oh well, too late to do anything now, maybe I'll just watched. At least, the both of them are getting that real life experience. _Sirius and Snape, probably the most volatile pair in the world was panting heavily, Snape with a nice little gash on his cheek and Sirius with a nasty looking burn on his arm. The class had gathered around them and was nervously glancing at Artemis, hoping she'd interfere. James looked pissed off, but a quick squeeze on his shoulder from Artemis kept him from interfering.

"You're just a coward, Sirius. I hate to think the kind of role model you'll make to your dear brother Regalus!" Spat Snape.

"You're one to talk grease ball. Keep your nose abnormally large nose out of other people's business."

"You mean how you keep you keep _your_ tail between your legs and run to your gutless friend James when the going gets tough? Neither of you would stand a chance without your coward friends to back you up!" Sneered Snape.

Artemis saw what happened almost as in slow motion. In a second she had reacted to diffuse the situation, but she was _not _pleased. Infuriated, Sirius cast a very powerful dark curse that would have left Snape in the hospital wing for at least a few weeks. Snape had reacted by sending an equally powerful curse. In the end Artemis had needed to jump in the middle and cast a seriously powerful shield charm to block out Snape's curse and then aim another spell at Sirius's to counter his, since it would probably shatter her shield charm. Both curses ricocheted, one hitting the wall, dangerously close to where James had been had he not ducked at the last minute, and the other out the window. _"Alright! Both_ of you detention!" She said livid with fury. "Now you'd better get yourselves to the hospital wing _right now_ or I'll hex you both into oblivion. Evans and Perkins, go with them to make sure they don't kill each other on the way there. Class dismissed."

She turned around, her robes swirling gracefully and long hair falling silkily on her shoulders. She stomped to the DADA office and decided that perhaps she'd get to marking the quiz she'd set for the first years.

* * *

Snape lay motionless in the hospital wing, waiting for Madame Pomfrey, who'd chosen the moment he entered to put in a rush order of Calming Draught.

That bastard Sirius thought he was _so _smug. He just couldn't wait for the day when the Dark Lord would make a decisive move and put the blood traitors to rest. He truly wanted nothing more than to see him crawl and beg for his life only to have it snatched away. After all, he _deserved_ it. For humiliating him over and over with James, and their retarded little gang. One day, he was going to wipe the floor with their faces. Just thinking about it made the raven-haired man smile in satisfaction. And since Sirius had already tried to kill him, it was only fair he return the favor right?

As the night sky got darker, Snape kept brooding in his own thoughts. Eventually he rose from the bed, sick of waiting for Promfrey and stalked out of the Hospital Wing. He was tempted to skip his detention, but since that kid was a professor, he supposed he couldn't really avoid it. It was quarter to eight when he found himself standing at the girl's door knocking briskly and patiently waiting for her to let him in.

"Come in," he heard.

He entered and saw her on top of the staircase leading to her office. "Come on up. You'll be serving detention in my office!"

Wordlessly, he walked up the staircase and took a seat across her in front of her desk. Looking around, he saw her office held a range of interesting knick-knacks. More surprising was that he hadn't quite seen them before. He knew the professors were free to decorate their offices as they pleased, and this often revealed a lot of information about them. Surprisingly, Artemis's office was clean and tidy. Other than the few odd objects on her desk, he also noticed a number of reference books, many of which were advanced potions. A number of parchments lay on her desk unattended and it seemed she'd been working on a complex formula before he knocked.

Hurriedly, she cleared away the desk and put the parchments and quill away. She sat at her desk and looked at him for a moment. She was starting to creep him out.

Finally, she broke eye contact, leaned back and said, "Well, I didn't think you'd actually show." She said with a slight hint of a smile. He knew he should've just skipped.

"I assumed it inevitable to avoid this encounter, as unpleasant as it is for the both of us, I'm sure…Professor," he said with his usual drawl.

"Hmmmm… now I _know _you're just making fun of me. Call me Artemis please," She said. "Well, first day on the job as DADA professor and I already had to dish out two detentions. I didn't quite expect mature and responsible students such as yourselves to lose control so badly. Well, I guess I should have expected different. But here I was thinking I'd give you the benefit of the doubt…" She said. "And that cut. You didn't get Madame Promfrey to look at it?"

"Just tell me what I have to do for my detention, _Professor_," Snape was not interested in being baited. He just wanted to leave. Something about the woman unnerved him.

Artemis went to her first aid cabinet and got out some supplied. Walking over to his side of the desk, she sat in a chair. He turned to face her so they were sitting across from each other without anything in between them "Here's the thing… I'm not exactly a seasoned professor yet, so detentions… they're not really my thing. I though we could just chit chat for a bit. I'm going to clean up your face so stay put… I'd do it with my wand, but I'm rubbish at healing spells. It was more my best friend's thing."

Was this woman mentally challenged? It didn't matter; she wasn't getting anything out of him by pretending to be her friend. Defiantly, he gave her a blank expression and sat arms folded over his chest. However, he let her lean in dab the ugly gash with a wet cloth full of some foul smelling liquid.

"So why don't you tell me what got the two of you flying off the handle this morning?" She started.

_Ah, the direct approach_, he thought. He simply kept his mouth shut and continued to give her a blank stare.

"Okay I get it, you don't want to talk to me. Alright, if that's what you want, sure. Actually, I have no interest in your squabble with Sirius. I just want to know where you learned that wicked curse. It nearly cracked my shield charm and would've knocked me into next week if it had."

This got Snape's arrogant side brimming with pride. "I invented that curse," he said, a dangerous smirk gracing his lips.

"Yes, I figured as much…" Artemis said, more to herself than him. It wasn't the first time that she had seen it. In the future, many of the DE, no doubt taught by Snape himself, in his earlier DE days, used it quite frequently when they really wanted to do some damage. She put away the wet cloth and brought out a antibiotic cream to put on the gash and got to work mixing it up into a smooth paste.

"What I can't figure out though," continued Snape, his curiosity and academic mind getting the better of him, "how did you manage to block it with a regular shield charm? I designed the curse so it would be able to crack shields and penetrate them."

"And it would've if I was not the castor. But you'll grow much stronger with time, and eventually a curse like that probably will not meet much resistance. In fact, in a few years, it'll probably demolish my shield charm," she said simply.

"Guess I'll have to test that theory, Professor."

"What you do outside these walls, Mr. Snape, is entirely up to you, no one can really stop you after you graduate anyway. It's sad that you don't use that big brain of yours to come up with something that could really benefit the wizarding world," she said.

"It will benefit the wizarding world," he sneered. He was beginning to get irritated with the woman. She was barely the same age and here she was lecturing him on responsible spell use. How did a daisy like her ever get the position of DADA?

"So tell me, what did Sirius do to piss you off so much?"

Snape was more than just irritated. "You might be a Professor little girl, but don't think your psychobabble is going get me to 'open up' or 'change my ways'. I'm not about to turn into your social project."

"I never intended to do that. But you just seem to be so angry all the time. I wanted to know why." And this was the truth. Although Artemis knew a few things about what made her former Professor tick, she hadn't pieced together all the pieces of the puzzle yet.

"I'm not angry…" He said slowly. Her slim fingers were working their way on Snapes cheek and he felt cool where they'd touched him. Softening up he said, "I've just come to the realization that in this world all you need to make it good for yourself is power. And that's all there is to it. No strings attached."

"And what do your friends and family think of that?"

"In case you haven't noticed _Professor_, I don't exactly have any friends. _Nor do I need those worthless pieces of crap that call themselves parents." _Grabbing her small wrist roughly, making her wince with pain, he said, "You'd better stop asking me these kind of stupid questions, you have _no_ idea _what_ I'm capable of,_"_ He spat out. Normally, threatening a teacher wouldn't be on his list of things to do, and he was sure she was going to send him straight to Dumbledore or at the very least, dish out another detention. He had stopped caring; the little girl needed someone to put her in her place. They _all_ did. _Those Gryffindor fools_.

Yanking her arm back and cleaning her fingers, she began to cut up some gauze and tape. "Don't worry Mr. Snape, I know full well what you're capable of. But I also know that a man like you does have something you hold quite dearly as well right? Something other than power? Are you sure you're honoring that precious something?"

She couldn't be talking about… Lily… could she? _No, there's no way she could know. But then again, her and Lily are close; maybe Lily mentioned something about the two of us being close?_ Snape chose not to respond.

She placed the gauze on his cheek and taped it up. "Well, you don't have to tell me what it is, Mr. Snape, but ultimately you have to decide what it is you want out life and what will give you satisfaction. And I don't mean the kind of satisfaction you get when you eat chocolate or something. Not the kind that is fleeting, and disappears after some time. I mean choosing the path that that never_ stops_ giving you satisfaction."

"I _am_ satisfied." He retorted. "But what would_ you_ know about satisfaction anyway?" He was starting to take the bait. "You sit here in your sheltered little world at Hogwarts, lecturing me like you have everything in life worked out. But guess what, you have _no_ idea! I'm just making sure I'm on the winning team."

The air around Artemis seemed to change. Her face hardened and all of a sudden he felt a chill go up his spine.

"You're forgetting I came from Durmstrang, Mr. Snape. I see you've been underestimating me. I've _hardly_ lived a sheltered life. And I, too, have goals I must achieve. In any case, let me give you a little friendly advice. In my considerable experience the path of vengeance doesn't really lead anywhere. Sure, you'll probably get even with your enemies but what then? Will it make their transgressions any better? Any more trivial? You'll still be left with the same scars you've always had. The only difference is, you won't know what to do to make them better. Just keep that in mind. Work towards something lasting Snape, don't waste your time or potential on something temporary. You're much better than that." Standing up, now done cleaning Snape up, she walked over the other side of her desk and took a seat in her chair.

"Is the morality lesson over for today?" He asked coldly. But Artemis could tell she'd struck a nerve. Maybe Snape was going to go over to the dark side. From what she could tell, he was already there. But maybe if she softened him up a little, she could ease some of the pain he'd been going through.

"Yes, it is. Now off you go. But before you leave, I just wanted to let you know that my door is open. If you ever need a friend to talk to… or lets just say a confidential ear or shoulder… you know where to find me right?"

_What an utterly cheesy, girly, _disgustingly _Gryffindor thing to say. _In fact, it was so stupid, he didn't even know how to respond. Somehow though, he wasn't all that mad. He felt a little lighter. Feeling a little bit unsure, he rose from his seat and headed to the door.

Then, almost as an afterthought, as he was walking out, he heard her say, "By the way, it's come to my attention that you've taken up an interest in potions. Can't claim to be an expert, but I have a lot of resources… if you ever needed anything, I'll be happy to lend them to you. Oh, and be sure to have the wound checked over."

He shut the door behind him and walked away. Potions, huh? This was probably another attempt to get close to him. It was of little concern to him. He'd use whatever he could of her. After all, it was a Slytherin's right to be… resourceful. And then when he was free of this place, he'd see to it to _properly_ thank her.

* * *

**OKAY! So that's the newest chapter! I know there was NOTHING Sirius and Artemis related, but please bear with me. It'll happen soon I PROMISE! Actually, this chapter did have that, but I had to split it because it was waaaay to long and I didn't want to lose focus with it. I just want to get her and Snape's relationship sort of started before I moved forward with her and Sirius' relationship. **

**Please, please, please, please review! I really wanted to make Snape in character, and I would appreciate some constructive criticism to see if I got it right! **

**Please look forward to the next chapter. I'm currently in the midst of a very intense course (which is usually when I do my best work, as a means of procrastinating….), but I'm not sure when I'll have the next one out. Though I'm excited about the course of events for the next chapter so it might not be THAT long either. We'll see, I've got to stop making promises T_T. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I really hope you guys can give me a fair review!**


	13. Battle with the Boggart

**Hey guys, here is another chappie =) Yaaaaay! I think I like how this one turned out. But please give me some feedback. I really want to know you all feel.**

**And as always, thank you SO much for all your reviews! I love seeing it in my mailbox! Just a quick note to: **alycya. **You caught me there. It's one of those things I haven't quite worked out the details yet. It would be easier for me to progress the plot if she were in the girls dorm, but since she's now a full fledged professor, it doesn't really make sense, so I'll have to think of it some more. I'll let you know when I get there though =) Thanks for the review!**

* * *

Artemis watched as Snape left the room. It surprised her how little and angry he was. She could practically hear all the sarcastic comments in his head she was sure he was bursting to say, but couldn't because, alas, she was a teacher and he was a mere student. Talking to him was like talking to a wall, but at the end of the day she felt that perhaps there might be an open channel of communication. And she knew Dumbledore would definitely keep an eye on him since they would come to work together. Artemis just wanted to know more about Snape. After all, this was the man who had sacrificed everything. The man, so in love with her mother, had given up everything to protect her and Harry from Voldemort. Even if him and the twins never really saw eye to eye, his sacrifice for them always sat heavy in her heart.

She glanced quickly at the time and saw that it was almost time for Sirius' detention. _Sirius, Sirius, Sirius… what am I going to do with you? _She thought. Some disciplinary action was needed, but considering she wasn't much older than he, she felt setting lines or something would be a little childish and immature. Unlike with Snape, she was not about to just "talk" to him. She was sure that would get her nowhere. _Maybe I should make good on my threat and get him to clean the owlery. Stinks in there. That'd teach him… No… That would be even more childish that setting lines, coming from her._ Then she had an idea. _Yes… that'll do nicely. _She would need to make some preparations…

Exactly twenty minutes later there was a sharp knock at the DADA door and Sirius came sauntering in, looking every bit as cocky as he felt. Artemis was nowhere in sight. This detention was going to be _easy_, he thought. He sat down in his chair at his desk and made himself comfortable. There was a small commotion as a windblown Artemis swept into the classroom. She motioned for him to follow her to her office. Once they were both settled, she got right down to business.

"I'll cut to the chase. What happened today in class? I didn't expect much from Snape, but I didn't think you'd use the dark curses you'd learned at home ever. What's the matter?" She asked looking at his startled expression. "You didn't think I'd believe you just learned that sparring with James, did you? A dark family like yours… no, you must have learnt it from them."

Sirius eyes glinted dangerously as he leaned forward menacingly. "And what do _you_ know about my family, _professor_? You sound like you have _all_ the answers. Well guess what! You don't. Stay out of my personal life."

"I don't assume to know everything Sirius. I'll admit that. But enough to know they aren't the sort that'll invite a bunch of Gryffindor friends over for dinner. At least not without attempting to poison them."

For minute Sirius almost hated her. He hated the way she just saw right through him, when nothing she did ever made sense to him. And how dare she judge him for using that curse when she didn't judge Snape? How dare she assume that he learned it from his family, just because they were dark?

"What did Snape say to you?" She asked a little more gently this time. "I know you wouldn't have thrown around a dark curse without any provocation."

Sirius buried his face in his palms. "Snape… he just gets under my skin, okay? He just knows exactly what to say to push my buttons, and sometimes I think he's right about me."

Artemis thought on that a little. It seemed her detention idea was going to come in useful after all. Especially if she was reading Sirius like she thought she was.

"Come on, we're going to take a little field trip. This will serve as your detention."

The two swiftly left the room in silence, Sirius tailing Artemis as she walked quickly through the corridors, turning this way and that, until they came to a small room. The room seemed a little shabby, like no one had been there for years. There was dust all over the place and the desks were practically rusting away. Sirius couldn't believe the room had been left so neglected, he figured if anything, the house elves would be around to clean it. But then again, Hogwarts was huge and it was rather a miracle that everything was always clean when it was supposed to be.

"That closet over there," said Artemis, jabbing her thumb to the left corner of the room. As if hearing her words gave it life, it started to jiggle a little. "It contains a boggart."

"A boggart," scoffed Sirius. "Come on, Artemis-"

"You are in detention, you will address me as Professor."

"Artemis, come on… I know you've been avoiding me, but really…?"

"I have _not _been avoiding you. And you'd better stick to Professor before I nick off some house points there."

"Okay then… Professor. But seriously? We learned how to take care of boggarts in third year! If this is your version of a detention…"

"And how long ago was third year Sirius? That's right. It's been four years since you had to fight one. And what was your biggest fear then?"

Sirius hesitated for a few moments. Then he decided what the hell, why not tell her? "My boggart turned into my father. My father picking me up from Hogwarts to take me home so they could indoctrinate me with more of the pure blood crap."

"I see… But you've run away from home now, if my information is correct, right?" Said Artemis.

"Why do you know that _Professor_?" The only people who knew Sirius had run away from home were Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, James, Remus, and Peter. How the hell could she have known that?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry…" she murmured. "Anyway Sirius… the point is that you've run away and so that isn't your current fear anymore. You'll have a new fear and I have a feeling I know what it is. Tonight, I'm going to make you face that fear. Besides, I'm sure watching you squirm is going to make this detention well worth my time." She couldn't help but sneer. She could help but feel a small satisfaction that he wouldn't be going to Pasha tonight.

"So you _are_ mad at me!" Sirius accused.

"I'm not. Frustrated because you let yourself get baited and disrupted my class, yes. Mad? Not really," she said with an air of indifference.

"Don't lie. You saw me in the room of-"

"What you do with your _girlfriend_ isn't really my concern. I don't care, so don't bother explaining it to me." She spat out. "Let's get on with this."

A smirking Sirius waited patiently for her to move to the back of the classroom and open the closet door.

Artemis knew she had to be careful. It had been a while since she'd seen her own boggart and she had no clue what it could turn into. But if she were right about Sirius, this would be a fine exercise to help him grow a little and also build a little maturity.

"Professor… I don't really think this is necessary…"

"It is." She said simply. "Get ready. I'm going to open the closet in 3…2… Now!" Artemis waved her hand carefully and moved back towards the door as the closet opened slowly.

It was already changing by the time the two got a look at it. It was swirling into something, or someone, rather. Swirling larger, the boggart finally stopped and faced Sirius. Looking at him, mirroring is own chocolate brown eyes, handsome face, and just-long-enough black hair stood a darker version of Sirius Black.

"Me? I'm my biggest fear." Then he felt it. There was an uneasiness in the bottom of his stomach. Sirius knew what this boggart was. It was the part of him that Sirius tried to stow away. The part of him that made him sick to his stomach knowing what he was capable of. His biggest insecurity.

"You are evil, Sirius. Don't deny it!" Spoke the boggart. "You know you are. It's in your blood, your genes to be evil. You tried to kill Snape, and you know you would've let him die if James hadn't stopped him. You're not any better than the Death Eaters you claim to hate so much. In fact you're just like them."

"No… That's not true…" Said Sirius. His eyes were wide and he was backing away from his boggart self.

"It is true." Said the boggart. "You are evil. You know so many dark curses. That may not make you dark, but you know the truth. You can use every single one of them. Only a truly hateful person could do that. You'll become a killer one day. The BEST!" Boggart Sirius was grinning ear to ear.

"You're wrong. I'm not like that. I'm a good person. _Riddikulus!_" Unfortunately for Sirius nothing happened. He certainly didn't find the humor in this situation. The boggart changed again, this time to James, blood dripping from his mouth wheezing and sputtering as he collapsed to the ground.

"James?" Sirius was now losing color very quickly. _He's going to have to get through this soon, or I'll have to step in_, thought Artemis.

"I should never have trusted you! You traitor! You're just like them! You're just as bad as your family and you'll stay far away from Lily and me!" Shouted the boggart version of James.

"I…. I…"

"That's enough Sirius! Are you really going to let others tell you who you are? You really think they'll know the real you better than yourself? Give me a break! The Sirius I knew wasn't such a weak willed person!" Yelled out Artemis. She saw some intervention was needed.

Suddenly, the boggart changed and there stood Snape, wand in hand raised. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Black! Just because you got sorted into Goody Gryffindor, doesn't mean you're not evil. It just means you're a coward. And I hate cowards!" Just as Snape raised his wand to hex Sirius, Sirius got a little bit of his color back. He raised his wand and with a strong and resounding voice yelled, "_RIDIKULUS!"._ The boggart Snape's wand exploded into purple daisies, setting both Artemis and Sirius into torrents of laughter as his face turned several shades of red. Finally, wiping tears from her eyes, Artemis pointed her wand at the boggart Snape, flowers still raining down on his head. Ropes emerged from the end of her wand and bound Snape. With a heave, Sirius wrestled him into the closet, and Artemis locked the door shut.

"I'd say that wasn't so bad, now was it Mr. Black," Smirked Artemis. "10 points to Gryffindor." Though if she wanted to be fair, she thought she should have given Snape 10 points simply for showing up. She was definitely expecting hunting him down.

The two sat on the steps in front of the classroom, side by side. The rattled Sirius needed a little break and he didn't particularly feel a very strong desire to remove himself from Artemis's company.

"I wasn't really expecting that. It sort of struck a nerve."

"You know, Sirius… It's not what we're born as, but what we make of ourselves that matters. You're a good person, and you know it."

"You heard the boggart. I could've have killed Snape, and I would've if James hadn't stepped in."

"Everyone does things they aren't proud of. But here you are, questioning what kind of a human being that action makes you. That's called guilt, you know. And someone who feels guilty about the wrong things they've done, can't ever truly be bad."

"You're not going to ask about the thing with Snape?" Asked Sirius.

"Do you want to tell me?"

"I'd rather not… I was just surprised you didn't want the details."

"You're entitled to your secrets. Don't worry, I don't think any less of you," said Artemis.

Sirius closed his eyes, feeling at ease after a long time. He knew he wasn't a bad person. Artemis was right, he was a good person and he knew that from within now. He didn't need to prove it. Snape would never rile him up like that ever again.

The two sat in awkward silence for a little while until Artemis broke it.

"I'll give you a note since it's past curfew. But you better go straight to bed since I'm not giving you a free pass to roam around the halls."

"Who me? Roam around the halls past curfew? Why ever would I do that?" Joked Sirius.

"Probably to sneak around with your girlfriend." Muttered Artemis so quietly Sirius just barely caught it.

"You know Artemis, Pasha is-"

"I told you I didn't care, right!" She stood up and began to walk away.

Sirius quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "You do care. You change the subject every time we talk about Pasha, you don't want to hear me say she's my girl, right?"

"Don't be ridiculous! I have better things to do than to think about your love life." Her voice was firm but her eyes shift left, giving her away.

"You're a terrible liar. The truth is, you like- mpfff". Artemis had put both her hands on Sirius's mouth.

"DON'T say it!" Letting go, she looked down, suddenly very interested in her shoes. Then she looked Sirius in the eye and said, "Listen… It doesn't matter what you or I feel. You are a student and I am your Professor. Whatever stupid notions you have in your mind about the two of us, get rid of them now. This is wrong on _so_ many levels."

"Pasha's not my girlfriend."

"Right, so she's _just_ your friend."

"That's right."

"With benefits, _obviously_." Artemis knew she was getting into the conversation, but somehow, she just couldn't help herself.

"No she's not! I mean, she was..."

"Right, that makes it all okay."

"But she's not anymore!"

"Sirius, stop! What do you hope to accomplish with this conversation. Why is it so important to you that I know what your relationship with Pasha is like?"

"Because I need you to know that when I say I'm starting to fall for you, it's not a lie! Because I'm not playing around. Because I care about you, dammit!"

Artemis was stunned. _What's wrong? You wanted him to say this to you,_ she thought. _This is disgusting. How can I feel so relieved? This man is my_ father's_ best friend. They were like brothers! He's my _Godfather _for God's sake!_

Sirius gathered Artemis into his arms and held her small frame, realizing all over again how fragile she was, even though her tough exterior showed otherwise. He inhaled her scent and pulled her tightly closer, afraid she'd disappear if he let her go. Her head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck. Touching her was become intoxicating and unbearable. He wanted to lean down and cup her chin with his hand. He wanted to guide her face to his and softly kiss her. And he didn't care that she was his Professor. It hardly mattered anymore. He was sure she could hear the thudding of his heart, but he just couldn't let her go.

Artemis leaned her head against Sirius's chest, feeling the tranquility of his arms holding her protectively as her brained churned with this new found information. She'd never felt more at peace than now. But then the reality of her situation hit her and brought her painfully back to the real world. _If only he knew…_ she thought. _He'd be disgusted with me. _Artemis was going to have to nip this in the butt. It didn't matter what she was feeling. Or wasn't feeling. She really wasn't sure _what_ she was feeling.

Pushing him away, she turned her back on him. "So you're falling for me? Please don't give me that melodramatic crap." She scoffed. Wearing her best Snape sneer, she pivoted and gave him the more disgusted look she could muster. "Just because you know a little bit about me and because I saved your arse that one time, doesn't mean you and I have anything together. You don't know anything about me. You don't love me, you simply like the idea of me. I suggest you get whatever you think your feeling straightened out and go back to Pasha."

"That's not true! I know you're smart, funny, and incredibly badass. But even though you're tough, you have a soft spot for everyone. And don't lie to me! We had something that night in the alley. I know you know what I'm talking about."

"Know me, do you? Fine! Tell me, Sirius. Tell me. When is my birthday? What's my favorite food? What's my favorite color? Where was I born? What was I like before I came to Hogwarts? Why is my brother dead? Tell me! If you know me so well, then tell me!"

Sirius said nothing. What could he say?

"That's what I thought. You don't know anything about me, Sirius. I'm not about to risk my career for you. A playboy who's probably slept with ever skirt in this entire year. Thanks for your…affections, but no thanks. Find someone who's interested." Sirius watched as she stalked away, her robes flying behind her dramatically, the small of her back getting further and further away from him. Sirius stood rooted to the spot, knowing he had been thoroughly rejected. This was a first. His heart clenched painfully in his chest as he realized he sorted of hated everything right now. Even the rattling of the boggart trapped in the closet was getting on his nerves. There he was. Sirius Black, Hogwarts heart-throb broken hearted over a girl. His Professor no less. And there he was, standing on the steps of the classroom with nothing but the boggart in the closet to keep him company.


End file.
